During his Oscar coverage, Fox’s Roger Friedman got to share a few words with director Steven Spielberg, and the bullet points seem to be these: 1) the filmmaker wants to take some time off right now, 2) "Indiana Jones 4" looks to be the next project on his plate, and 3) Jeff Nathanson‘s screenplay has been handed over to mega-scribe David Koepp for fine-tuning.
(Friedman) asked him about "Indiana Jones 4." What’s up? I said: “George Lucas told me recently that there’s a script and he’s happy with the story.”
Spielberg: “George Lucas isn’t the director. I am.”
You may recall that in this space on Dec. 6, 2005, I wrote that Lucas said he had a script by Jeff Nathanson, who wrote Spielberg’s "Catch Me If You Can" and "The Terminal," as well as Bret Ratner’s "Rush Hour" movies. But even Nathanson seems to have been succeeded in the Indy sweepstakes.
“I have David Koepp on it now, and he’s my ‘closer,’” Spielberg said, using a baseball reference to the pitcher who comes in during the 9th inning and finishes up a winning ball game."
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For Friedman’s full report, click here.
Since his 1988 debut "Apartment Zero," David Koepp has been one of the busiest (not to mention wealthiest) screenwriters out there. Not including uncredited polishings, Mr. Koepp has written "Bad Influence" (1990), "Toy Soldiers" (1991), "Death Becomes Her" (1992), "Jurassic Park" (1993), "Carlito’s Way" (1993), "The Paper" (1994), "The Shadow" (1994), "Mission: Impossible" (1996), "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997), "Snake Eyes" (1998), "Panic Room" (2002), "Spider-Man" (2002), "Secret Window" (2004), "War of the Worlds" (2005), and "Zathura" (2005). As writer/director he also did "The Trigger Effect" (1996) and "Stir of Echoes" (1999).
