Their 'Final' Answer

When Glen Morgan and James Wong were approached with the task of turning a horror treatment called ''Flight 180'' into a film, they laughed. Seems the writing-directing team -- whose celebrated stint on ''The X-Files'' included the scripts for ''Tooms,'' about a taffy-limbed serial killer, and ''Home,'' the infamous tale of homicidal inbred farmers -- thought the premise of high schoolers hunted by a scythe-wielding grim reaper was a wee bit ridiculous. ''I only read half of it,'' scoffs Morgan.

Yet New Line Cinema persisted, and their agents pushed. So the two pitched a more self-respecting version, one where Death isn't some razor-fingered Freddy, but imperceptibly employs everyday occurrences and clutter -- public transportation, shower curtains, even a glass of vodka -- to do his shadowy work. ''To our shock, they said, 'We love that!''' says Morgan. ''It's so rare to walk in, say 'Here's what I think it should be,' and someone goes, 'I agree.' How can you walk away from that?''

With ''Final Destination'' (the name was changed to avoid a disaster-flick vibe), Morgan and Wong become the latest ''X-Files'' alumni to matriculate into filmmaking. The results for their colleagues have been mixed: Rob Bowman scored with 1998's ''The X-Files'' movie (he's now reportedly attached to the Fox action flick ''Riptide''), while David Nutter flopped with the 1998 teen shocker ''Disturbing Behavior'' (he's now shooting the pilot for ''Dark Angel,'' a sci-fi show James Cameron is exec-producing for Fox).

Wong and Morgan, who are currently producing NBC's psychic-friends thriller ''The Others,'' hope that ''Destination'' won't crash at the box office, as they're itching to do more films (they have a script set up at Jodie Foster's Egg Pictures). While they know ''The X-Files'' has given them a hook, Morgan and Wong pray it's not defining. Says Morgan, ''When I'm 60, I hope I'm not just answering questions about how Tooms squeezed into the chimney.''

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