Rob Thomas was at the Television Critics Association’s Press Tour this past month and dropped some big news about the Veronica Mars movie while he was promoting ABC’s redo of his 1998 TV series, Cupid. iF Magazine caught up with Thomas and learned that since Cupid’s 13 episode order was scaled back to 8, he now has time to work on the script for the Veronica Mars movie. He says:

But my writing the movie is half the battle. Someone else has to pay for it. Joel Silver does have a certain pile of money. He called on me saying “Can we do this now?” Kristen [Bell] wants to do it. Joel wants to do it and I want to do it. For me, that’s the next project.

The script’s currently “70 percent broken in [Thomas'] head,” and with producer heavyweight Joel Silver behind him and a marketable star attached, things are looking up for the long-rumored big screen adaptation. Thomas has even spoken with some of the cast of the UPN/CW show that lasted three seasons, including Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni, and of course Veronica Mars herself, Kristen Bell. He wasn’t giving away any plot details, but Thomas did say that the proposed Veronica-in-the-FBI storyline has been dropped, and the film will instead pick up days before the Hearst College graduation ceremony, with Veronica at the end of her college career. I think I like that direction a bit better. Sure it makes sense for Veronica to end up in the FBI someday, but Kristen Bell still somehow looks like she’s no older than 22 years old. Plus the recent college grad perspective allows her to more realistically keep her snarkiness. Me likes the snarkiness.

Tags: Cupid, Joel Silver, Kristen Bell, Rob Thomas, Veronica Mars