Legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg may be directing invisible rabbit remake "Harvey" next, but his follow-up gig may have just opened up. USA Today reports that DreamWorks is developing an adaptation of Michael Crichton's final, as-yet-unreleased novel "Pirate Latitudes," a 17th century adventure involving the water-borne bandits' plot to raid Port Royal and liberate of Spanish galleon of its valuable cargo. The novel isn't out until November 24, but David Koepp -- who previously adapted Crichton's "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World" for Spielberg -- is already working on a script.

The question of course is whether Spielberg will direct or not. It certainly seems like a possibility, at least according to DreamWorks CEO Stacey Snider. "Anything that Michael wrote, Steven would be keenly interested to read," she said. "But without Michael knowing it, or even me knowing it, it turns out Steven always wanted to direct his own pirate film." Read more...

At the end of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” brave Indy had a wife and a kid. By that point he’d already survived a nuclear blast by hiding in a refrigerator and escaped an inter-dimensional alien portal, so who could blame the grizzly archeologist for calling it quits? But the film did almost $790 million in worldwide business. No wonder there’s been talk from George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford and others about taking a fifth run at the franchise.

When MTV News caught up with “Crystal Skull” scribe David Koepp recently, the screenwriter was certainly open to the idea of “Indy 5.” “I thought [‘Crystal Skull’] was a pretty good way to go out, but you never know,” he told us. “Somebody has a great idea -- it’s always worth doing.” Read more...

Recently, I ran my annual “Other Awards” article, celebrating the wacky, weird and sometimes brilliant movie stuff that slips between the cracks at traditional awards shows. So, when my path crossed with super-screenwriter David Koepp (“Spider-Man,” “Mission Impossible”), I had to ask him about what I considered to be the neatest gimmick of 2008.

“None whatsoever,” was his response when I asked him what source material he used for the new-to-DVD flick “Ghost Town,” which features the clever running gag that we sneeze whenever a dead person is passing through us. “We made that up.” Read more...

To some, the “Da Vinci Code” was an international blockbuster that made $758 million all over the world. To others, it was a disappointing translation of the bestselling book that currently stands at a lowly 25 percent approval rating on RottenTomatoes. So, when super-screenwriter David Koepp (“Spider-Man,” “Jurassic Park”) was brought in to adapt “Angels & Demons” into a sequel, did the “Da Vinci” filmmakers offer any notes based on the criticisms they received from that second group?

“No,” insisted Koepp. “They don’t really give you notes in relation to the first film, especially since I wasn’t there. I didn’t have anything to do with the first film. Ron [Howard] and his collaborators probably had conversations among themselves about what they wanted to do differently, as you would on any sequel. But since I didn’t have anything to do with it, I was dealing with this as its own thing.” Read more...