Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are set to work together for the fourth time after the latter signed up for a cold war spy thriller that Spielberg is planning to direct.
According to Variety, the as-yet-untitled film is set against the backdrop of the U2 incident in 1960, when a US high-altitude spy plane was shot down over Soviet Russia and its pilot, Gary Powers, was captured. Hanks is due to play James Donovan, a lawyer sent by the CIA to conduct negotiations with the USSR for Powers' release.
Spielberg is currently juggling a number of projects after the Oscar success for Lincoln. He is looking to restart production on the sci-fi action thriller Robocalypse, which had been put on hold after script problems. He dropped out of directing American Sniper, a Bradley Cooper vehicle about a Navy Seal, and expressed interest in taking on Montezuma, the 50-year-old script by McCarthy-era blacklistee Dalton Trumbo about the Aztec emperor who was deposed by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.
Hanks is currently shooting A Hologram for the King, an adaptation of the novel by Dave Eggers. He failed to receive Oscar nominations for either of his eligible films last year, Captain Phillips and Saving Mr Banks. Spielberg previously directed Hanks in Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me if You Can and The Terminal.
