Well, Sacha Baron Cohen has already made sure that he won't be haunted by Borat jokes for the rest of his life, so it was only a matter of time before he started to branch out. First was his foray into musicals, and now it's time for something just a little more 'serious'. Once again Cohen has gotten lucky and he's caught the eye of another great director. The Times Online has reported that Cohen signed to play 60's counter-culture icon Abbie Hoffman for Steven Spielberg. Cohen is the perfect choice to play the self-described "Jewish Road Warrior, communo-anarchist". They both seemed to appreciate a good prank, and hey -- the two even look alike.

The film will be called The Trial of the Chicago Seven and was written by Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson's War) with presumably Spielberg directing. The story will center on the infamous trial of seven men for riots at the 1968 Democratic convention. Hoffman was an activist and author who, along with Bobby Seale and Jerry Rubin, were put on trial for conspiracy and inciting to riot. He was eventually cleared of the charges and was still a celebrity at the time of his death in 1989.

According to the Times, Cohen is set to receive five million dollars for the role that he had to be "talked into" by Spielberg. It was probably wise for Cohen to say yes, since apparently some have lived to regret turning down the directing legend. Cohen already has Brüno lined up as his next film. It will be another 'character' comedy; about a gay, Austrian fashion correspondent. As for Spielberg, he has already started wrapping up work on Indy 4 and there is still the Lincoln biopic with Liam Neeson. Plus, he has already lined up the sci-fi film, Interstellar. So it could be some time before The Trial of the Chicago Seven makes it's way to production. If you can't wait to get your fix of civil disobedience though, you can always check out the animated documentary Chicago 10 when it opens in March 2008.

[via The View From Here]

When I reported on Steven Spielberg's re-ignited passion with video games, I had commented on his ability to multitask. But, it looks like writing is not going to be one of those tasks any time soon. Variety has reported that Paramount has hired Jonah Nolan (brother of Christopher) to script Spielberg's upcoming project Interstellar. To be fair, Spielberg is going to be pretty busy with Indiana Jones 4, Tintin, and that Abraham Lincoln project that seems to be forever being pushed back (Liam Neeson recently told us that its still in the earliest stages of development.) So, it's not surprising that Spielberg would look for a little help with Interstellar.

The film was inspired by the worm-hole theories of Caltech physicist Kip S. Thorne, an expert on theories of relativity. The story will follow explorers that travel into other dimensions. The film is still awhile off, since the script has not even been started, and it's not like Spielberg is the only one with prior commitments. Nolan will be working his brother Christopher again on The Dark Knight and he has to finish the script for The Chicago Fire for Warner Bros. before he can start work on Interstellar. Spielberg is going to have his hands full, so I doubt he's going to be in a rush.

After hearing so much about what he may or may not do in the future, Steven Spielberg finally set the record straight himself during a brief interview given right before the director received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF). First off, Spielberg debunked rumors he was interested in directing a film-version of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, saying he's never been approached about it and, even if he was, would decline because it's "not his thing."

Next, Spielberg briefly touched upon Indiana Jones 4, noting the script is still in development, with David Koepp fine-tuning what we all hope is the final draft. (Why do I feel like I'll be repeating that line for the next several months?) Hey, at least Jurassic Park 4 is moving ahead at a quicker pace. Though IMDb lists its director as Breck Eisner, Spielberg insists Joe Johnston (who directed Jurassic Park 3) has first dibs on the sequel. More dinosaurs! Yay!

As far as that whole Kip Thorne-inspired sci-fi project Spielberg was working on, it's been given the title Interstellar and, like the rest of his films, is currently in development. When asked how close it was to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spielberg said Interstellar is nothing like 2001, but didn't provide any further details as far as plot goes. Oh, and what about poor old Abe Lincoln? Is it dead? Well, he's dead, but is the project still alive? Yes it is. The script is being written and Spielberg hopes production will start somewhere around September or October of 2007. However, the big question on everyone's mind is "Will Abe Lincoln go before Indy 4?" Unfortunately, Spielberg could not answer. Yeah, I'd wave bye bye to another Indy adventure in summer 2008.