'Brothers' team heads for Pacific theater
More war stories
July 21, 2003
Steven Spielberg and Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman -- the Emmy-winning creative team behind HBO/DreamWorks Pictures' "Band of Brothers" -- are mounting a new 10-part war miniseries centered on the battles in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
DreamWorks confirmed that the project, being referred to as the Untitled World War II Pacific Theater Project, is in the early stages of development, with a deal currently being finalized for HBO to partner in the miniseries, which is expected to require a "Brothers"-type budget of more than $100 million.
Scribe Bruce McKenna, who penned several installments of the first miniseries and picked up a WGA Award for his work, already has held numerous creative meetings with Spielberg and Goetzman and is expected to become the head writer. There is no deal for McKenna, and negotiations haven't started for the scribe to board the project, but sources said the principals are discussing scheduling and how much it would cost to hire McKenna for what would be a long-term assignment.
Currently a hot writer on the film front, McKenna is currently adapting Marvel Comics' "Hands of Shang Chi" for DreamWorks and he recently closed a deal to adapt the upcoming non-fiction book "The Perfect Mile" for Universal Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment and Kennedy/Marshall.
The "Pacific Theater Project" is not based on any existing source material, but it is expected that it will follow a company of soldiers through the island campaign, just as "Brothers" viewed the European campaign from D-Day on through the eyes of Easy Company of the U.S. Army Airborne Paratrooper division.
The multiepisode "Brothers," based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose, proved to be an awards circuit favorite after it aired on HBO in 2001. It was nominated for 19 Emmys and earned 6, including a trophy for outstanding miniseries.
DreamWorks confirmed that the project, being referred to as the Untitled World War II Pacific Theater Project, is in the early stages of development, with a deal currently being finalized for HBO to partner in the miniseries, which is expected to require a "Brothers"-type budget of more than $100 million.
Scribe Bruce McKenna, who penned several installments of the first miniseries and picked up a WGA Award for his work, already has held numerous creative meetings with Spielberg and Goetzman and is expected to become the head writer. There is no deal for McKenna, and negotiations haven't started for the scribe to board the project, but sources said the principals are discussing scheduling and how much it would cost to hire McKenna for what would be a long-term assignment.
Currently a hot writer on the film front, McKenna is currently adapting Marvel Comics' "Hands of Shang Chi" for DreamWorks and he recently closed a deal to adapt the upcoming non-fiction book "The Perfect Mile" for Universal Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment and Kennedy/Marshall.
The "Pacific Theater Project" is not based on any existing source material, but it is expected that it will follow a company of soldiers through the island campaign, just as "Brothers" viewed the European campaign from D-Day on through the eyes of Easy Company of the U.S. Army Airborne Paratrooper division.
The multiepisode "Brothers," based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose, proved to be an awards circuit favorite after it aired on HBO in 2001. It was nominated for 19 Emmys and earned 6, including a trophy for outstanding miniseries.
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