Steven Spielberg Navigates Michael Crichton’s Pirate Latitudes
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 27, 2009
“…without Michael knowing it, or even me knowing it, it turns out Steven always wanted to direct his own pirate film.”
A quote from Stacy Snider, co-chair and CEO of Dreamworks, talking about Steven Spielberg’s long-held desire to have his own pirate film. Of course, to anyone who has followed Spielberg’s career can tell you that he has a thing for pirates — he produced The Goonies, which had a pirate subplot, and directed Hook, which also had some high-flying kid pirates.
Along with pirates, Spielberg has always had a thing for Michael Crichton as well. He adapted Crichton’s Jurassic Park into one of the most memorable films of all-time. And now, according to USA Today, he will be once again tapping the work of the late author, with the adaptation of the posthumously released “Pirate Latitudes.” Set for release November 24, “Pirate Latitudes” is said to the be the story of “a daring plan to infiltrate Port Royal, one of the world’s richest and most notorious cities, and raid a Spanish galleon filled with treasure.”
As USA Today’s Anthony Breznican points out, there is coincidence afoot, as Dreamworks is about to begin a distribution partnership with Walt Disney, the company that brought pirates back to the mainstream with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, starring Johnny Depp. According to Snyder though, these two franchises won’t get in each other’s ways. Pirate Latitudes will be more grounded in reality, as opposed to supernatural fantasy.
A pirate movie grounded in reality, with Steven Spielberg on to produce (and possibly direct), based on a book by Michael Crichton, adapted by Jurassic Park scribe David Keopp. Not bad, if you ask me. The only problem is whether Spielberg will have time to direct this one, or if he will hand it off to one of his minions like Joe Johnston or D.J. Caruso. I’d like to see him take it on, like many of you I’m sure. But then again, there are a lot of things I’d like to see Spielberg direct, including that long-forgotten Lincoln biopic.
If you’re like me, the best you can be at this point is excited about the book, which is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.
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