Steven Spielberg has hired Tony Kushner to adapt David Kertzer's religious period drama novel 'The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara' for the big screen, which suggests that the director may eventually make it. But it seems that it won't be Spielberg's next effort, even though he doesn't have his next film lined up.

This news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, and considering that Kushner previously adapted 'Munich' and 'Lincoln' for Spielberg, it seems likely he wouldn't waste the Tony and Pulitzer prize-winning author's time. But Spielberg hasn't set the project as his next title, and may instead make the long-delayed 'Robopocalypse' (which, had things gone according to the original plans, would be coming out next week) or the Aztec drama 'Montezuma' first, while he's also supposedly interested in a remake of 'West Side Story.'

What's odd about this is that Spielberg hasn't directed a picture since 2012's 'Lincoln'. The filmmaker made his motion picture debut in 1973, and has been working steadily ever since, with his longest gap between projects coming after he won the Best Picture Oscar for 'Schindler's List' in 1993 (he returned in 1997 with 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' and 'Amistad'). Spielberg has also repeatedly directed two films in a year, with 2011 the first time those films came out within a week of each other ('The Adventures of Tin-Tin' and 'War Horse'). At this point, it's seems he won't have another film in theaters until 2016 at the earliest, so it's likely that this will be Spielberg's longest break between films.

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