Quick! How many superstar directors could get away with opening one blockbuster less than a week after another? Right now that list has one name: Steven Spielberg. As the holiday box office awaits War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin, we’ve seen set pics of Daniel Day-Lewis as our 16th president in Lincoln, and now longtime Spielberg producer Kathleen Kennedy talks about the next project on the director’s eternally-crowded slate: Robopocalypse. [The Playlist]
Kennedy answered a number of question regarding projects that have been rumored (Jurassic Park 4 – “we don’t have a writer yet”), speculated about (Indiana Jones 5 – same story: “We’re not writing ‘Indiana Jones’ right now”), and some of them may very well be wishful thinking (a NeverEnding Story reboot, a Who Framed Roger Rabbit? sequel).
The project she divulged the most details about was the next planned shoot for Spielberg once Lincoln is wrapped (the man is known for jumping from one set almost immediately to the next): the high-concept adaptation of Daniel Wilson‘s Roboapocalypse. The first draft of the script, by Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard, is expected this month. According to the producer:
“Steven was very taken with the story,” Kennedy said. “I think there are elements that are similar to ‘A.I.,’ ‘Minority Report,’ things he’s done in the past, and he just views it as the next extension of those kinds of stories.”
The films named by Kennedy are among the darkest in the director’s canon… and if War Horse promises to fulfill our tearjerker needs (not to mention a hefty dose of emotional manipulation, but you know what you’re getting from a Spielberg movie), then a return to some darker, more complicated themes could be very interesting. Kennedy does not expect much to get done until early 2012:
“We have to wait until the first of the year to sit down and say, ‘Okay, how are we doing this?’ And then we’ll get really immersed in it.”
Other projects Kennedy commented on were a possible Ben Affleck remake of the French thriller Tell No One (itself based on American novelist Harlen Coben‘s best-seller) and something truly bizarre for your Monday: a biopic of infamous posers Milli Vanilli:
“It’s a really wonderful script,” she said of the Milli Vanilli project. “It’s kind of a strange and quirky script, for a strange and quirky story. But it hasn’t really kicked into gear yet. Who knows? Maybe someday. It’s in the maybe pile.”
I seriously doubt we’ll get Spielberg attached to direct that last one… but wouldn’t it be kind of awesome if he did?
The Adventures of Tintin opens December 21, followed by War Horse on Christmas Day. Robopocalypse arrives in 2013.
Which of these other, hypothetical projects sound the most exciting for you?