Sunday, April 27, 2014

Spielberg to Direct 'The BFG' But After Tom Hanks' Cold War Drama

It's been a busy week for news regarding the next directorial effort of iconic filmmaker Steven Spielberg. The return of Robopocalypse, an adaptation of The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, thehistorical epic Montezuma and a Cold War drama with Tom Hanks have all been mentioned as potential new projects. Now Variety adds one more to the mix as Spielberg has now attached himself to DreamWorks' adaptation of Roald Dahl's book The BFG, a family friendly story about a little girl who leads a big, friendly giant and the Queen of England on a journey to stop the fiercer man-eating giants from gobbling children. More below!
Looks like Spielberg wants to venture into children's stories, just like Martin Scorsese did withHugo. The project has been sitting dormant at DreamWorks since the studio picked up the property in 2010 and now it will come to life with a script from Spielberg E.T. The Extra Terrestrial writerMelissa Mathison. Considering the storyline, this seems like a wholly appropriate project for the two to reunite on. The plan is for production to begin early in 2015 for a release sometime in 2016.
Along with that news is more indication that Spielberg will likely reteam with Tom Hanks for the aforementioned untitled Cold War drama as his next project. For those just hearing about that project, the script tells the true story of James Donovan, an attorney who negotiated the release of downed U-2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers, who was held and interrogated by the KGB and imprisoned for espionage. Production on that project would begin in September, and DreamWorks would likely release during awards season late in 2015. If anything else comes up for Spielberg, I'll be sure to let you know.

No comments: