Danny Boyle Officially Hired as 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony Director

All it took was some carefully visualized persuasion from Movieline for Danny Boyle to get the official go-ahead as the artistic director of the opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Summer Olympics. He won't be alone, either -- and I'm not just talking about the company of mascots Wenlock and Mandeville.

Boyle will be aided by executive producer (and fellow Oscar darling director) Stephen Daldry and about $60 million of the organizers' money; "It's not going to be like Beijing in terms of this overwhelming scale," Boyle told the AP, while London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said the ceremony would emphasize "what we need in London, which is a games for our times." That's easy: Just dump the cash in BP's new oil-spill cleanup account and skip the pomp altogether. Anything else?

· Danny Boyle to oversee 2012 Olympic ceremony [AP]