Great director, terrible taste?
It seems Steven Spielberg is determined to keep busy doing anything and everything except make his dream Lincoln biopic, but maybe he just wants to put that recent $325 million dollar Dreamworks loan towards solid-gold box-office projects. Just a few weeks after confirming his next film will be a questionable remake of “Harvey,” the USA Today reports that the director is now eyeing an adaptation of Michael Crichton’s posthumous novel, “Pirate Latitudes.”
Spielberg has had a long run of success working with Crichton material, directing “Jurassic Park” and developing “ER” and “Twister” as well, so its no surprise he’s on board (har har) for this as well.
The novel, set to hit store shelves on November 24th, takes place in 1665 and is about “a daring plan to infiltrate Port Royal, one of the world’s richest and most notorious cities, and raid a Spanish galleon filled with treasure.” As you might recall, Dreamworks just inked a distribution deal with The Walt Disney Company who have their own successful franchise you might have heard about starring Johnny Depp. However, Dreamworks co-chair and CEO Stacy Snider assures anyone who might be worried, that Crichton’s pirate novel is less fantastical and more realistic compared to Depp’s billion dollar franchise. Thank God for that. David Koepp, who wrote the first two Jurassic Park films, is currently working on the script but the studio won’t commit to anything until they have a look at it. Spielberg will be producing and may direct if he likes what he reads.
As for “Harvey”, there is still no word on any casting decisions (aside from Tom Hanks being totally out) though everyone has their favorite guess (we think it will be Will Smith). “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” is finished filming, and co-director Peter Jackson is currently in the midst of a year’s worth of special effects work.
We hope Spielberg passes on this and ends this rut of blockbuster sequels, remakes and book adaptations he seems to be stuck in and gets back to focusing on doing something close to his heart. Perhaps he needs to give his pal Francis Ford Coppola a call, who at the age of seventy is doing some of the most interesting and invigorating work he’s done since the 1970s. Spielberg needs to get out of the comfort zone of surefire box office hits and take a risk or he runs the chance of turning to the dark side like his other friend, the now completely hopeless George Lucas. But maybe he’s watching the bottom dollar, correctly assessing the times and waiting til 2011 to attempt things like “Lincoln.” Sigh… it’s popcorn fare for the next few years?
Or, here’s the hope: Spielberg did develop “Transformers” and then convinced Michael Bay to direct. Hopefully he’s developing what sounds like a escapist commercial project for someone else to direct and still keep his company afloat (with a new cash influx, it’s probably wise for Dreamworks to not take major risks starting out of the gate). Wouldn’t be a bad idea and we hope that’s where he’s going with this.
