Steven Spielberg had been planning his next directing gig, Harvey, since August. However according to Variety he has now withdrawn from directing due creative disputes with Robert Downey Jr., his potential lead.

Spielberg delivered the news this week to 20th Century Fox, which had earmarked soundstages on the Fox lot in anticipation of an early 2010 production start. Fox had agreed to have DreamWorks finance 50% of production through its new funding relationship with Reliance, and either distribute domestically or internationally through its arrangement with Disney.

Pic—an adaptation of Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a man who befriends a six and one-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 for Elwood P. Dowd, a role played in the 1950 film by James Stewart.

Spielberg’s first choice was Tom Hanks, but the actor who is often regarded as a modern day Stewart wanted no part of taking over a role played by the iconic star. Spielberg and Fox spent several months courting Robert Downey Jr. While the “Sherlock Holmes” star never committed, he did make suggestions on rewrites of the Jonathan Tropper script. He and Spielberg never found themselves in creative synch on the script, and the director finally called the whole thing off.

This means that Spielberg has no current project lined up to direct. Tintin finished filming in March and will now spend the next two years getting rendered at WETA under Peter Jackson’s supervision. There is a possibility Spielberg could now focus his attention on the Abraham Lincoln biopic with Liam Neeson, which I was actually looking forward to more than Harvey.

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In an article from Variety about Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln movie (which he still plans to make) is this small nugget of news:

Spielberg is presently focusing on his “reimagining” of “Harvey,” with Robert Downey Jr. possibly playing the man who sees an invisible rabbit.

We heard last month that Harvey would be Spielberg’s next movie, however we haven’t heard any more details, and this is the first time we’ve heard any news on casting since Tom Hanks said he wouldn’t be taking on the role. If Downey Jr. does join the movie we should have confirmation soon as Spielberg aims to begin production early next year.

Harvey is the story of an amiable eccentric, Elwood P. Dowd, and his friendship with a six and a half feet tall invisible rabbit and how this affects every member of his family and his community.

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Earlier this week we learned that Steven Spielberg’s next directing gig would be Harvey, an adaptation of the Mary Chase Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a man who befriends a 6½-foot-tall invisible rabbit. As expected, speculation began as to who Spielberg would cast in the lead role and we heard names such as Tom Hanks and Will Smith, however according to Variety Hanks isn’t interested.

Tom Hanks won’t be the star of `Harvey,’ Steven Spielberg’s contemporary adaptation of the Mary Chase play.

It was widely speculated that Hanks would be Spielberg’s top choice to play Elwood P. Dowd, perhaps because the actor has a likeability factor comparable to Jimmy Stewart, who played the eccentric with the invisible giant rabbit friend in the 1950 film.

While it appears there was a conversation, Hanks and Spielberg won’t pursue it because Hanks is so identified with Stewart. The last thing he would want to do is star in a project so closely identified with the actor. Hanks didn’t even read the Jonathan Tropper script.

Insiders on the Fox-DreamWorks project said that despite press coverage that has fixated on why Spielberg would remake a film classic, the truth is, the Jonathan Tropper-scripted film that was developed by Fox 2000 is a contemporary story that is much closer in tone to the play than it is to that film.

Spielberg and Will Smith have been wanting to make a movie together for a while and have been in talks to remake Oldboy, however that won’t be happening for a while so I guess Spielberg could cast him in Harvey. Anyone have an actor in mind who they’d like to see take the lead?

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Steven Spielberg handed The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn over to Peter Jackson in March after directing 32 days of performance-capture filming. Jackson will be working with WETA to complete all the effects, and Spielberg will probably be checking in now and again to see how it’s going. If the first Tintin film does well then Peter Jackson will be taking over directing duties for the second film, which gives Spielberg a bit of time to direct a few more movies before they both co-direct the third film (if all goes to according plan). So, what will Spielberg be directing next?

From Variety:

Steven Spielberg has committed to direct, as his next film, “Harvey,” an adaptation of the Mary Chase Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a man — played by Jimmy Stewart in the 1950 film version — who befriends a 6½-foot-tall invisible rabbit.

Spielberg aims to begin production early next year, so the helmer is expected to reach out to a handful of top stars, most notably Tom Hanks and Will Smith, to find someone whose availability meshes with the planned start dates.

Harvey is the story of an amiable eccentric, Elwood P. Dowd, and his friendship with a six and a half feet tall invisible rabbit and how this affects every member of his family and his community. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944, and played on Broadway for 1,775 performances between 1944 and 1949. It later was adapted for the 1950 Universal film that starred Jimmy Stewart and Josephine Hull.

I am not familiar with Harvey and his rabbit friend, and would have preferred it if Spielberg worked on Lincoln with Liam Neeson, however there hasn’t been a Steven Spielberg film that I have disliked, so I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with this.

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