There's no doubt that Steven Spielberg and bringing controversial times in our history to the screen go together like peanut butter and jelly. Between such films as SCHINDLER'S LIST, EMPIRE OF THE SUN, AMISTAD, as well as several others, the legendary director sure does know how to hold a magnifying glass to some of our darkest of moments as people just trying to get along in this crazy world. That's not to say that the man doesn't spice things up from time to time. After all, he's also given us such cinematic delights as HOOK, JURASSIC PARK, and the madcap INDIANA JONES series. He's a man of vision and of variety, and in my book that means he's A-OK.
Today, we've gotten word that Spielberg will team with actors Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep (you may have heard of them) for a drama called THE POST, which will be based on The Washington Post's involvement in publishing the controversial Pentagon Papers study pertaining to America's role in the Vietnam War. More specifically, the film will focus heavily on Post editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks) and publisher Kay Graham's (Streep) involvement.
Spielberg is set to direct the feature which will be based on a script written by Liz Hannah, which was originally picked up by Amy Pascal to produce through her Pascal Pictures label. Pascal and Spielberg will combine forces to produce the picture, along with Macosko Krieger, Fox and Amblin Entertainment who will be in charge of financing, with Fox handling domestic distribution while Amblin carries the international side of the arrangement.
Perhaps the most exciting project currently on Steven Spielberg's plate is his feature presentation of Ernest Cline's READY PLAYER ONE, which is now in post-production and is scheduled for a March 30, 2018 release. Personally, I'm hoping that Spielberg's version is better than the book, which I seem to be one of the few people on the planet who read it and didn't care for it in the least. I should probably explain. I thought it was a cool story with lots of solid ideas, but I loathed the characters, and didn't care for how heavily the whole presentation relied on nostalgia to bolster its appeal. Eh, you can't please everyone, I suppose.