As noted in last week's news about Steve Spielberg saddling up to a new Tony Kushner script, the Oscar-winning director has plenty on his plate, as always. The Film Stage recently dug through all the possibilities and came up with an ordered list of eight projects most likely to come to fruition, including a Cold War project, further details of which have bubbled up today.
Tom Hanks has been tapped to star in the film, according to Variety, marking yet another collaboration for the duo. They worked together previously on films like “Saving Private Ryan” and “Catch Me If You Can,” as well as TV miniseries “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.”
The new film is based on the true story of attorney James Donovan (Hanks), who was enlisted by the CIA to slip behind the iron curtain and negotiate the release of a pilot captured when his U-2 spy plane was shot down over Russia. He received the Distinguished Intelligence Medal for his duty.
Donovan was an overall badass beyond just that, though. He had a hand in the underlying foundation of the CIA, helping to draft the legislation that set it up. He worked as an agent for Kennedy, negotiated deals with Castro and was even assistant trial counsel during the Nuremberg Trials. He also famously served as defense attorney for Russian spy Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher, which he wrote about in the 1964 book “Strangers on a Bridge.”
With all of these projects on the horizon for Spielberg, whether as producer or director, the one most expect to be his next (for a variety of reasons) is “Robopocalypse.” But this one may bubble up as a priority soon enough, as the promise of another Hanks/Spielberg film will have plenty interested.
Hanks, who starred in last year's “Captain Phillips” and “Saving Mr. Banks,” will next be seen in Tom Tykwer's “A Hologram for the King,” set for release in 2015.