Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg may bring The Grapes of Wrath back to the big screen

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Dreamworks and director Steven Spielberg are currently in negotiations with the estate of John Steinbeck to bring a new version of the author’s classic work, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, to the big screen. Regarded as a classic piece of literature, the book was adapted in 1940 by director John Ford, who won an Oscar for the film. It has since been required reading in high school’s and has made an icon of the central character, Tom Joad, played by Henry Fonda in the film. Spielberg is said to only be producing the film and “definitively” not directing, especially with the upcoming AMERICAN SNIPER with Bradley Cooper on his plate for next year.

At this point, no director is attached, as the deal is still in motion, but it appears that the estate of John Steinbeck are convinced this is the way to go after considering a mini-series route on FX. Next year is the 75th anniversary of the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, so it could be a move to capitalize on the timing.

Here’s the book synopsis:

A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. Although it follows the movement of thousands of men and women and the transformation of an entire nation, The Grapes of Wrath is also the story of one Oklahoma family, the Joads, who are driven off their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity.

What do you think? Something to be excited about?

Source: Deadline

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