Steven Spielberg has withdrawn from “Harvey,” a project he’s spent the past half year developing. It was to be his first directing vehicle for the reconstituted DreamWorks.
Per Variety, Spielberg delivered the news this week to 20th Century Fox, which had earmarked soundstages on the lot for an early 2010 production start.
The adaptation of Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a man who claims to see a six and a half foot tall invisible rabbit has been a challenge to pull together since Spielberg committed last August. One of the biggest challenges has been setting a star to play Elwood P. Dowd, the character played by James Stewart in the 1950 film.
Spielberg’s first choice was Tom Hanks, but the actor, often regarded as a modern day Stewart, apparently wanted no part of taking over an iconic role played by an iconic star. Spielberg and Fox also spent several months courting Robert Downey Jr. The “Iron Man” and “Sherlock Holmes” star never committed, although he reportedly made script suggestions. Spielberg and Downey never saw eye to eye on the script, and Spielberg finally called the whole thing off.
It isn’t immediately clear what Spielberg’s next project will be at this point. He completed production last March on “The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.” He’s known to have been busy with the reorganization at DreamWorks, and has credited or uncredited producer’s roles on various projects there, but does not seem to have a “go” movie of his own at the moment.
There are several candidates. The much-discussed and long-stalled Abraham Lincoln Civil War film scripted by his “Munich” writer Tony Kushner might be a possibility, although Robert Redford is currently directing "The Conspirator," about the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination. There is also the Jeff Nathanson-scripted “The 39 Clues,” or the posthumously published Michael Crichton novel, “Pirate Latitudes,” to which Spielberg is at least attached as a producer.
Spielberg never doesn’t have several scripts floating around his office. It’s just a matter of time until one floats to the top of the pile.
Comments