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View Full Version : Spielberg's Next Film - The Trial of the Chicago 7


Watashi
01-03-2008, 09:35 PM
In yesterday's Vanity Fair feature article on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, there is also a mention of who else might be up for roles in the Steven Spielberg-directed The Trial of the Chicago 7:

My glance strays to a side table, where headshots of actors under consideration for his likely next directing project, Chicago 7—about the conspiracy trial that grew out of protests at the 1968 Democratic convention—lie on the surface. Among them I spy Will Smith, Taye Diggs, Adam Arkin, and Kevin Spacey; Sacha Baron Cohen (as Abbie Hoffman) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (as William Kunstler) are also linked to the project, which has a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. (It should be noted here that Chicago 7 will be partly based on Chicago 10, a new documentary produced by Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair's editor, and Brett Morgen, the film's director.) After Chicago 7, Spielberg will probably go on to direct Lincoln, with Liam Neeson in the title role.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 follows protesters who disrupted the 1968 Democrat party convention with an anti-Vietnam war "carnival" that turned nasty. Demonstrators threw bricks, police responded with tear gas and the center of Chicago was engulfed in flames. Curfews only escalated the violence.

After the clashes, independent investigators blamed eight police officers and eight protesters including Hoffman, who had already disrupted the New York Stock Exchange with showers of fake money.

The police were not charged but the protesters were accused of inciting a riot. One was jailed for contempt, leaving the seven to fight the charges.

Spielberg... with Aaron Sorkin... with that cast... :eek:

Sycophant
01-03-2008, 09:37 PM
This sounds interesting. I'm especially interested to see how Cohen could do with something like this.

Also, is this the first I've heard of Neeson being up for Lincoln? I'm intrigued.

Watashi
01-03-2008, 09:38 PM
Also, is this the first I've heard of Neeson being up for Lincoln? I'm intrigued.

Really? That news is like 2 years old.

Sycophant
01-03-2008, 09:54 PM
Really? That news is like 2 years old.
Oh. Guess I just haven't been paying attention, then.

Acapelli
01-04-2008, 02:46 AM
I thought that it saying Adam Arkin was a typo. Didn't know Alan Arkin had a son who also acted.

MadMan
01-04-2008, 07:21 PM
Sounds pretty cool to me, although I'm worried about this film having an overly liberal bias. I want an objective look at the whole thing, although these days that's hard to get.