EXCLUSIVE: Steven Spielberg has found his next film. He’ll direct for Amblin Entertainment The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara, an adaptation of the the book by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Kertzer that Tony Kushner has adapted. Mark Rylance, who won the Best Supporting Oscar for Spielberg’s Bridge Of Spies and who plays the title character in Spielberg’s The BFG, will star as Pope Pius IX. The Bridge Of Spies producing team of Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger will produce this. Production will begin in early 2017 for release in the fourth quarter of that year.
Published in 1997, The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara recounts the story of a young Jewish boy in Bologna, Italy in 1858 who, having been secretly baptized, is forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents’ struggle to free their son becomes part of a larger political battle that pits the Papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification.
Interesting choice for his next film. I think Rylance is a great pick. Would this be the first film by Steven to be distributed by Universal?
Jurassic Park and E.T. were both universal pictures.
What about ‘Ready Player One’?
Not that Ready…
I can’t see this movie filming and being release all before Ready Player One, which is due March ’18. If there’s any movie that would require the director’s full attention in post, it’d be RPO. Wouldn’t be surprised if he asked Lucas to help like he did with Jurassic Park.
Sounds classy…but no superheroes or dinosaurs? I hope they find an audience.
What about Indy 5?
It’ll be out in 2019. Spielberg will most likely shoot in 2018. There’s plenty of time.
What about Indiana Jones 5?
Indy 5 is scheduled for release in 2019 so it won’t be happening yet.
God this sounds boring
…jealous of SPOTLIGHT?
How is this in the same galaxy as Spotlight?
A Jewish boy who is kidnapped (in Bologna of the 1800s!) and raised Catholic and ended up being a priest– is hardly the molestation of hundreds if not thousands of children and a massive coverup set in the present.
This feels like a movie Merchant Ivory and the BBC forgot to make because it was too much of a snooze. This will skew 60+ if not older, but I guess senior citizens need something to see at the bargain matinee that won’t rattle them too much.
This will get some token Academy Award noms because of Spielberg and Rylance but won’t win anything. FACT!
It’s papal conspiracy mixed with Empire of the Sun.
Same galaxy as Spotlight? Attacking the Catholic Church is always good business.