Hollywood predicted what the CIA didn't: A 9/11 omen from 1999

A current foray into screenwriting has me researching movie writing materials -- and a small item under "Pitch Sales" in the May/June 1999 issue of Creative Screenwriting magazine gave me a chill when I read it last night. It reads:

"New Line Cinema has landed a blow to opponents in a bidding war for Nosebleed, a comedy-action pitch for Rush Hour star Jackie Chan. The TKO was delivered in the form of a pricetag of $600,000 against $850,000 for the story of a window washer at the World Trade Center who befriends a bartender and a waitress. The threesome attempt to abort what they perceive as a terrorist plan to bomb the building again."

Indeed, for all the talk of the failure of the CIA and the Bush administration to predict the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, it looks like Hollywood had not only considered the possibility a good two years in advance -- it had a bidding war over it.