Steven Spielberg to Direct War Horse

Steven Spielberg has been circling several projects for a while now trying to chhose his his next, from his long in gestation Lincoln biopic to an adaption of Michael Crichton's last novel Pirate Latitudes, at one point even a remake of Harvey was on the cards, but now he has finally chosen according to Variety.

 Steven Spielberg has selected his next directing job: World War I epic "War Horse."

Disney and DreamWorks will release the film Aug. 10, 2011.

"War Horse" is based on Michael Morpurgo's novel of the same name, as well as a stage adaptation. Spielberg is producing with Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Revel Guest. Scribes Lee Hall and Richard Curtis are penning the adapted script.

Set against the sweeping backdrop of the Great War, storyline charts the extraordinary friendship between a boy and a horse who are separated but whose fates continue to intertwine over the course of WWI.

Here's a synopsis of the book from Amazon.

From master storyteller, Michael Morpurgo comes an incredibly moving story about one horse's experience in the deadly chaos of the first world war. In 1914, Joey, a young farm horse, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges towards the enemy, witnessing the horror of the frontline. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey's courage touches the soldiers around him.

This sounds like a return to his 80's and early 90's roots to me, a story with a certain innocence and hope to it, personally I think Spielberg has made a wise choice here. Granted it could turn out cheesy but that is the risk often taken with material that aspires to be inspirational, however given the glowing reviews of the book it seems Spielberg has got the material to work with that will allow him to tread on the right side of that line.