A lot of genre fans have been talking about the new "War of the Worlds" movie adaptation being put together by Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise, but much of the H.G. Wells talk this week will likely center on a virtually unknown director instead.

Timothy Hines and Pendragon Pictures announced earlier this week that they have beat Spielberg and Cruise to the punch by filming a "War of the Worlds" independent film that has been in the planning process for the last three years. And while Paramount seemed to be on board with the idea for the last several years, Hines said they grew a cold shoulder to him after Cruise was brought on board.

"We communicated with the principals at Paramount before (the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks)," Hines said in a release. "They acknowledged in writing through their attorneys that we can make our picture. At that time, an executive producer on Dreamworks' 'The Time Machine' invited us to his home in Las Vegas, where he informed us that Tom Cruise had aspirations to make the picture. They essentially all told us to go away."

Executive producers for "The Time Machine" include Arnold Leibovit and Jorge Saralegui, but neither have been formally announced as being a part of the Spielberg/Cruise "War of the Worlds" project, so it is unclear who Hines is referring to.

"Now that they have announced that they are doing a moden version, I think there's room for both our productions to exist," Hines said. "What they are doing sounds interesting. From what I understand, they are changing the story dramatically, whereas we have point-by-point recreated the book for the screen. Our production of 'The War of the Worlds' is set at the turn-of-the-century. We're almost a back story to their version, sort of like a prequel."

Hines also directed "Chrome," which is being released by Pendragon, the company that Internet Movie Database lists him as chief executive officer of. A biography to IMDB submitted by Pendragon states that Hines has multiple films under his belt, however his IMDB resume only lists "Chrome" and a 1985 film called "The Edison Device."

Hines also said in the release that the budget for the film was in the tens of millions of dollars, and confirmed that he did try to approach actors such as Michael Caine, Charlize Theron and Eric Stoltz. However, he said he settled on actors such as Jack Clay -- founder of the first professional actor's training program at Southern Methodist University.

The film had been planned by the studio as a modernized tale before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. After that, the project died. However, co-producer John Gallo said it never really bit the dust, and stayed alive in some form.

"Every period detail has been painstakingly and carefully researched over the last three years as we developed the project," Gallo said. "Timothy wanted everything to be right, as the fans' expectations are enormous."

The Pendragon edition of the film is expected to be released in early 2005, ahead of the planned 2005 release of the Spielberg/Cruise project. However, Pendragon officials said they would make a final determination of its release date next month.

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