Spielberg seized by scurvy scallywag scuttlebutt

(click to see a book cover as unimaginative as the title)

USA Today reports that Michael Crichton has reached out from the grave to distract one of our best directors from more worthy projects:

Steven Spielberg is developing a film out of a posthumously published novel by the late Michael Crichton‚ÄîPirate Latitudes, an adventure story set off the coast of Jamaica in 1665. Screenwriter David Koepp, who adapted Crichton’s novels for Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, also has signed on to create the script. Spielberg plans to produce and is considering directing.

DreamWorks Studios describes the novel, set for release Nov. 24, as the story of “a daring plan to infiltrate Port Royal, one of the world’s richest and most notorious cities, and raid a Spanish galleon filled with treasure.”

I don’t know whether to say, “arrr,” or “arrgh.” On the one hand there’s the promise of a rip-roaring Spielberg adventure unlike anything we’ve seen since, um, Crystal Skull. On the other hand there’s the threat of another Crichton adaptation. 12 of his junk novels have been turned into 11 junk movies and one that wasn’t entirely mediocre. Dreamworks CEO Stacey Snider seems to think Spielberg has plenty of time to waste:

“Anything that Michael wrote, Steven would be keenly interested to read. But without Michael knowing it, or even me knowing it, it turns out Steven always wanted to direct his own pirate film.”

Is Spielberg forgetting about Hook, or just wishing everybody else would?