Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg's dreams of making an adventure movie on the high seas is set to come true - he's adapting his late pal Michael Crichton's book Pirate Latitudes.
The filmmaker brought Crichton's novel Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World to the big screen, with the help of writer David Koepp.
Now he has once again turned to Crichton's work - he plans produce and possibly direct the film of Crichton's novel, which tells the story of a buccaneer and is set off the Jamaican coast in 1665.
Crichton had just completed Pirate Latitudes when he lost his battle with cancer last November (08), aged 66. The novel is set to hit bookstores in November (09).
Spielberg says of the book, "Michael wrote a real page-turner that already seems suited for the big screen. Michael and I have had almost two decades of solid collaborations.
"Whenever I made a film from a Michael Crichton book or screenplay, I knew I was in good hands. Michael felt the same, and we like to think he still does."
And Stacey Snider, who runs DreamWorks film studio with the director, insists it has always been Spielberg's dream to bring a pirate movie into theatres.
She tells USA Today, "Anything that Michael wrote, Steven would be keenly interested to read. But without Michael knowing it, or even me knowing it, it turns out Steven always wanted to direct his own pirate film."
Spielberg is waiting for Koepp to produce a script before announcing a release date, but Snider is convinced fans will enjoy the project: "This is a reunion movie that taps into all three of them, and their love of high adventure. Just like old times."
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