Spielberg Pulls 'Harvey' Out of His Hat
Sun, August 2, 2009 
While sites were reporting that Steven Spielberg was circling a spy franchise ("Matt Helm"), the hard-to-predict director instead was stealthily agreeing to remake "Harvey" as his next project.
"Harvey" is the story of Elwood P. Dowd, and his friendship with a 6-and-a-half-foot tall invisible rabbit.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play from 1944 was turned into a 1950 movie starring Jimmy Stewart. It also has been produced as a television movie three times, with Stewart reprising the role in 1972.
According to a press release, the screenplay will by done by bestselling novelist Jonathan Tropper.
The movie will be a co-production between 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks.
The release states casting and pre-production will begin immediately, with production to start early next year.
No actors are aligned with the project as yet, but would it really surprise anyone if Tom Hanks were the first actor to get a call for the role of Elwood P. Dowd?
Sean Gerski
While Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks did discuss the project, as expected, Hanks will not play the lead role (of Dowd, not Harvey).
According to Variety: "While it appears there was a conversation, Hanks and Spielberg won't pursue it because Hanks is so identified with [Jimmy] Stewart. The last thing he would want to do is star in a project so closely identified with the actor. Hanks didn't even read the Jonathan Tropper script."
Additionally, Variety states the movie's script will hem closer in tone to the play than the 1950 film did.
Reader Comments (6)
Spielberg is now helming two films in a row that damn-near nobody cares about? Tintin and his take on Harvey?
No thank you, Mr. Spielberg. No thank you...
I have to agree with the comment above, I have little to no intererest in a Harvey remake. Heck I have not even seen any of the other Harvey movies though I had heard of at least one, not sure which.
What the heck? That movie, while great, is as slow as syrup. And any attempt to make it more "exciting" is just going to make it worse. It works because of the simple storytelling.
Very disappointing, I was really hoping he'd make Matt Helm, this just does not interest me at all.
I can think of many actors who would fit this role, but I can't think of a single reason they should (outside of the chance to work with Spielberg, of course).
I'd like to see Spielberg do something else.