Steven Spielberg’s movie based on The Trial of the Chicago Seven was really coming together for a while. Not only did you have the Academy-lauded director heading up the project and Aaron Sorkin on the script, but the range of names rumored to be associated was pretty impressive as well: Adam Arkin, Taye Diggs, Will Smith, Kevin Spacey, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Heck, I was even looking forward to what confirmed actor Sacha Baron Cohen would deliver under Spielberg’s direction. Now it seems the project may be on hold, or cancelled altogether.
Yesterday, Collider reported that, according to their sources, Spielberg has made the decision to move on from Chicago Seven, perhaps instead choosing to focus on his Abraham Lincoln project. If Spielberg started on that this year, it might be completed in time for the former president’s 200 birthday next year, which is pretty good rationalization to work on that project instead of the story of the Chicago dissidents. The question then was whether the movie would survive without Spielberg attached.
Following up on that report, Hollywood blogger Nikkie Finke says that Spielberg hasn’t moved away from the project and is still very much enthused about telling the story of the Chicago Seven, but has put it on hold from its April start date. The reason: that potential SAG strike. Spielberg doesn’t want to start shooting and suddenly have the movie put on hold if the actors start picketing.
The good news is that if Finke is right, we’ll still get a Spielberg movie about the Chicago Seven, it’ll just be delayed. At the same time, Spielberg and Sorkin are going to utilize the time and tweak the script a bit more, which means the movie will be all that much stronger when it does start filming.
