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Sunday
10Aug2008

Spielberg Out of 'Chicago 7'...Is 'Bourne' Director Greengrass In?

DateSunday, August 10, 2008 at 11:48PM
Great research by Neil Miller at Film School Rejects has uncovered some major news. Steven Spielberg is apparently taking himself out of the director's chair for The Trial of the Chicago 7, and in his place may just be Paul Greengrass.

The news was hidden away in Production Weekly, which Rejects just happened to check for an update and found something a bit more noteworthy. Less than two weeks earlier, producer Walter Parkes had kind of relayed to MovieWeb that Chicago 7 may be in a bit of a holding pattern until a director surfaced. So does the Greengrass news change things? If it holds us, yeah, I'd say it does.

The film will follow the infamous protestors during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. I won't rehash that whole story here; if you're unfamiliar with it, get a history book. Or two, maybe. Anyway, it seemed like a good subject for Spielberg, who has become one of the better social commentators behind the camera, particularly for a film that could have this high a profile.

Then again, I can't think of a director who has been as good back-to-back-to-back lately than Greengrass, who bookended his superb United 93 with two Bourne movies, and his past two films are easily among the best of their respective years.

The cast is almost embarrassingly good, which would explain why you'd want to keep the project going; there's no telling when you could assemble Will Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kevin Spacey, and Philip Seymour Hoffman again (and the cast will also include Adam Arkin, Colin Hanks, and Taye Diggs, although they're probably a bit more flexible). Does Greengrass make sense here? Perfect sense. Look at the approximation of cinéma vérité he used for United 93. That naturalistic feel is more than appropriate for a film of this nature, and again, he's clearly at the peak of his powers right now.

Let's hope that Production News listing wasn't a typo, or that even if it was, Spielberg catches wind of the idea and hires Greengrass on the spot.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , , , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment1 Comment |

Reader Comments (1)

By the time this movie comes out it will be irrelevant...they should just can it like Justice League.

(or else shoot for 2012)...

I think Spielberg made the right decision here.

Monday, August 11, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterLost Wilson

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