It looks like Steven Spielberg simply didn’t use his time in Frances this past May for pleasure, but as the head of the Cannes Film Festival jury he was working hard on screening the slate, as well as finding new business. Revealed today over at Deadline, they report that the filmmaker is currently in talks with Fuji TV to snatch up remake rights for Hirokazu Koreeda‘s in competition drama Like Father, Like Son.
Revolving around a young couple, Ryota (Fukuyama Masaharu) and Midori (Ono Machiko) taking their six-year-old son Keita to interview for an elementary school, we said in our review, “oftentimes heart-wrenching, Koreeda is able to weave a range of emotions by remaining slightly detached and observing the subtle mannerisms of both families; with such great performances from both of the child actors, it’s near-impossible not be bowled over by their struggle to understand what’s happening.” The Jury Prize-winning film certainly lines up with Spielberg’s fondness for father-son themes, but reports say that he wouldn’t be the one to direct the DreamWorks project.
In other news at the company, The Wrap reports that they’ve found a writer for their new take on John Steinbeck‘s classic 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. According to the trade, things are moving fast after being initially unveiled last month as Tracy Letts (Bug, Killer Joe and the upcoming August: Osage County) and jumped aboard to script the new take. As we await news on a director for both projects, check out a trailer for Koreeda’s latest below if you missed it, which will likely get a 2014 U.S. release from Sundance Selects.
Who should direct these two remakes?