And now the art shall come spilling out of Tim Allen.

It’s hardly news when a television actor decides to step behind the camera on a random episode of their show (I think the entire cast of Beverly Hills 90210 honed their mastery of mise en scene during the run of that venerable prime time soap), but it’s not often that they make the transition to the big screen.  For every Ron Howard or Paul Michael Glaser, there are countless Ian Zierings – guys who think they’d like to direct until they realize it’s harder than showing up and hitting your marks four or five days a week.

As the director of a single episode of Home Improvement, Tim Allen appeared to be a member of the Ziering camp.  Then he ran across a wonderful screenplay by Judd Pillot and John Peaslee called Crazy on the Outside, and his inner Tarkovsky was tickled.  Now, the star of Wild Hogs is in negotiations with Carrie-Anne Moss, Ray Liotta, Kelsey Grammer and Julie Bowen, and your interest level is less than nil.

Crazy on the Outside is about an ex-con who discovers that life on the other side of the razor wire is even nuttier than the daily humiliation of shower rape at the hulking hands of a cankered triple-murderer.  The film will be produced by Brian Reilly, Brett Gregory, Richard Gregory and Anastasia Stanecki – all of whom have worked on at least one Santa Clause movie.  They’ll have to take that up with their God one day.