More than any other director of his ilk, Lee has persistently brought arthouse sensibilities to the mainstream. His most arresting movies are about everyday folks living out their lives in a Chekovian,

The strangest development saga of any movie this summer includes A-list writers and directors (Mamet, Scorsese) coming and going, and studios spending millions trying to hone the right script. Then, a young producer and first-time screenwriter cracked the code and got Denzel Washington's attention.