Spielberg’s Matt Helm?

The ever delayed Lincoln bio long-promised by Steven Spielberg might yet again get the proverbial shaft, with a freshly rewritten MATT HELM script said to have fallen directly on his very valuable lap.

Dreamworks had been trying for a long while to get going on an Helm update, but the project was lost to Paramount when both studios filed for divorce, forcing Spielberg to basically suck it up. According to Variety, the new take from DONNIE BRASCO scribe Paul Attanasio is of such a quality that the bearded guy is strongly considering a visit to Paramount with his greenest of smiles for a chance to direct. A decision on the matter is expected as soon as next week.

Created in 1960 for what would be a 27-book series, the popular tough-guy brainchild of author Donald Hamilton is a counter-agent contracted to eliminate enemy operatives. A series of 4 era-defining action comedies with Dean Martin in the 1960s reduced him to a swinging spy who hates Sinatra’s music, while an ill-advised 1970s TV show saw him as a private dick trying to foil little Timmy’s kidnappers. Dollars to donuts says the update would have him be akin to a butt-kicking black ops assassin with memory problems. Don’t know why I say that, just a gut feeling…