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Spielberg to make Gershwin Biopic


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Since he dropped out of Harvey, Steven Spielberg’s first project under the reconstituted DreamWorks has been a subject of much speculation. Now I hear who's at the center of the director's biopic of George Gershwin, which DreamWorks acquired last fall. It’s Zachary Quinto -- Sylar in the NBC drama-fantasy Heroes, and Spock in the JJ Abrams-directed megapic Star Trek. Quinto will play the famed composer and pianist, who with brother Ira was responsible for more than a dozen Broadway shows before dying at 38. DreamWorks is even supplying accent and dialogue coaches for Quinto, and shooting could begin as soon as April. Doug Wright wrote the script, and Marc Platt and singer/pianist Michael Feinstein are producing. A DreamWorks insider says this is one of 3 projects Spielberg is looking at for his next piccause he's anxious to get back to work. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an announcement later this week.

If true, I'd be very interested in the Williams score.

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Good, I'm glad it says Spielberg is anxious to get back behind a camera. I'm anxious to get back into the seat of a theatre!

Just make something, I don't care what it is!

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There have been so many things he's been rumored to be making, Lincoln, Interstellar, Indy V, I wouldn't get excited until there's an official announcement.

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This sounds like a great film regardless of whether Williams score it or not. Gershwin's life was quite interesting and tragic in the way he died (an undiagnosed brain tumor). His music is virtuosic and moving not to mention incredibly difficult to play and a delight to study.

I want to say something else but I've got to rein myself in.....I will just add a big "sigh" as a response to some posts above and leave it at that.

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Ooh, I'm very interested in this. Could be good stuff. And he could probably fit this in pretty easily this year, which makes sense for news that Indy V is supposed to be shooting next May.

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As far as a score goes, I hope it wouldn't sound like Williams, but like Gershwin.

This would be a movie I would go see. The last time a "bio" movie about Gershwin was made, well, it was far from authentic. I think Spielberg could do something interesting with this.

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He abandoned Harvey (and a potentially superb score full of weirdness about a man and an invisible rabbit) for a tame biopic about a composer? This should be a sad day for every JW fan.

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Spielberg needs to leave the biopics to Clint Eastwood and get back to making popcorn flicks.

War Of The Worlds? The Crystal Skull? Really? Nah, he should follow his heart. If his interest in popcorn movies has faded, it's better to look for something else. No need to force him in an artistic straitjacket, Quint.

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I don't see WotW as a popcorn flick; it's too dark. My definition is probably different to yours. KotCS yes, but he failed, his "heart" clearly wasn't in that either. He needs to make his bloody mind up!

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This is very welcome news in my book. Gershwin is an American icon and had a very interesting life which ended really prematurely.

My mind boggles with wonder to think about what John Williams could do with such a project. I wonder if Spielberg consulted with him about doing this specific film.

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I don't see WotW as a popcorn flick; it's too dark.

What's that got to do with anything? I base my purchase of popcorn for a film over whether I'm hungry before the movie starts, or plan to catch dinner after the show ends. It has nothing to do with the content of the movie. You think nobody showed up to Schindler's List with munchies?

I'm not going to say that making a biopic is a bad idea. Ray! and Walk the Line were both tremendously successful and popular, but that's because of the dynamite performances of the leads, the popularity of the artists depicted, and their recent deaths.

A movie about Gershwin already has one of those working against it, since he died over a generation or two ago. This would have to be really, really special to be viable at the box office. Otherwise, its place is on PBS.

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what happened to that Spielberg "Pirate-Movie"? Has that already been canned?!

David Koepp is still adapting Pirate Latitudes

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I think this a project that Williams could have some fun with from a musical perspective.

Spielberg has change and we're never gonna get the Steve of old. He changed after he directed Schindler's List and looks at things differently.

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I think this a project that Williams could have some fun with from a musical perspective.

Spielberg has change and we're never gonna get the Steve of old. He changed after he directed Schindler's List and looks at things differently.

and his films have suffered accordingly.

Amistad, interesting take on history but flawed.

Lost World, has a few moments but seriously flawed

SPR, great war film, average movie, sabatoged by the sentimental crybaby ending.

AI, horrible film, worst of his career

Catch Me If You Can, intersting light and fluff.

The Terminal, DOA

Minority Report, fairly good movie, but the cinematography is terrible.

War of the Worlds, dark but well made remake, needed a stronger ending. It suffers from trying to hard not to be ID4.

Munich, said it before and I'll say it here, its a snuff film, it should have been beneath him but his religious beliefs betrayed him in making this. I know he felt he was making something important, but he was wrong.

KOTCS, 17 years in the making which is incredible sad, best that they could do. Proof SS's instincts are dead.

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I agree except A.I. ,which I think is a great film and classic Spielberg.

Take the basement scene in War of the World. It's been bothering me for a while.Why isn't it scary?...because we know exactly how Spielberg directs that kind of scene and there's no surprise anymore. We know the monster is going to look around silently for a while,not find anything ,the kid is going to step on something to make a noise and then everyone runs in panic and an unimportant character dies

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When I hear him talk about how he wouldn't have done CE3K the same way and express regret over it, I know the Spielberg we all grew up with is gone.

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It's pretty pretentious of him to "regret" the films that made him famous in the first place

now most of his films are boring and predictable. but they still bring us new JW music...

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I don't think he "regrets" CE3K as much as he just regrets having the kid get kidnapped in it. He made that before he became a father, so he never realized that would cause so much personal anguish to parents.

In more recent SS fare, he would have made someone a bit older getting kidnapped, or somebody's pet dog getting kidnapped. Except that a kid can't take care of himself as easily, presenting tense conflict, and dogs aren't as intellectually interesting for aliens to kidnap.

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I bet he regrets killing Alex Kitner in Jaws.

In Spielberg's remake they drive the shark away from Amity and Quint lives. No one ends up with anything worse than a flesh wound.

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In a way he's a bit like George Lucas...He seems to have made the prequels for his 10 year old kids instead of the people who want to see Star Wars movies.

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I bet he regrets killing Alex Kitner in Jaws.

In Spielberg's remake they drive the shark away from Amity and Quint lives. No one ends up with anything worse than a flesh wound.

In the Blu Ray version the line Somebody shoot it, doesn't anyone have a gun gets removed, and in all the scenes where Brody has a gun, its replaced by walky talkies, and in Quints case his rifle would become a childs rocking chair.

The shark doesn't die but PETA pickets Quint, and Mayor Vaugh fires Brody for animal cruelty.

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In Spielberg's remake they drive the shark away from Amity and Quint lives.

Or Benchley's original ending stands, and the shark just...dies.

it did? how?

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Truthfully that's not entirely fair. KotCS did feature some pretty grisly deaths. The ant guy, the vaporizing at the end, and all those slaughtered natives (killed off camera). Maybe those were George's doing, but Steven signed off on them.

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In Spielberg's remake they drive the shark away from Amity and Quint lives.

Or Benchley's original ending stands, and the shark just...dies.

it did? how?

When the shark jumps on the boat,Quint slices the shark's stomach open with his machete before he gets tangled up in the ropes with the barrels. Quint gets dragged to his death by drowning, and the Orca sinks. Brody is floating on a cushion as the shark comes at him. Juts before it grabs him, it stops and dies, sinking to the bottom.

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