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Spielberg to Write and Direct Kubrick's `A.I.' BURBANK, Calif.---March 14, 2000--Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg will write and direct the eagerly anticipated epic science fiction tale "A.I." for Warner Bros. Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures, starting production on July 10, 2000, it was announced today by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Theatrical Production, and Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, co-heads of DreamWorks Pictures. "A.I.," which stands for "artificial intelligence," will be written and directed by two-time Oscar winner Spielberg, whose films are among the most acclaimed and highest-grossing of all time. Jan Harlan, brother-in-law to the late Stanley Kubrick, who has produced all of Kubrick's films since "Barry Lyndon" and has long been associated with the project, executive produces the film with Walter Parkes. Kathleen Kennedy, Bonnie Curtis and Spielberg produce the film, a Stanley Kubrick Production, which will be distributed domestically by Warner Bros. Pictures and internationally by DreamWorks. "There is only one person who can direct `A.I.,' and we couldn't be more excited and honored that he has agreed to make it his next movie," di Bonaventura said. "Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest living directors and I am sure that he will bring his singular humanity and unique vision to this incredible story." "Stanley had a vision for this project that was evolving over 18 years," said Spielberg. "I am intent on bringing to the screen as much of that vision as possible along with elements of my own." Harlan said, "During preparations for `A.I.,' Stanley came to realize that Steven would actually be the ideal director for the project, and I know they talked extensively about a collaboration." Steven Spielberg has directed, produced or executive produced seven of the 20 top-grossing films of all time. In 1999, Spielberg won the Oscar for Best Director and was nominated as a producer of the universally acclaimed top-grossing drama "Saving Private Ryan." The film won five Oscars and garnered the director his third Directors Guild of America Award, the others having come for "Schindler's List" and "The Color Purple." He also won his second Golden Globe Award for Best Director, after winning for "Schindler's List." In 1994, Spielberg won two Academy Awards -- one for Best Director and another for Best Picture for his work as a producer -- for the internationally lauded "Schindler's List." The film collected a total of seven Oscars in addition to receiving Best Picture honors from several of the major critics organizations, and seven British Academy Awards, including two for Spielberg. He also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Spielberg has also been recognized with Academy Award nominations for "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Additionally, he earned DGA Award nominations for all of those films, as well as "Empire of the Sun," "Jaws" and "Amistad" for a record nine DGA nominations. Spielberg is also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute, the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and most recently, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the DGA. DreamWorks SKG was formed in October 1994 by its three principal partners -- Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen -- to produce live-action motion pictures; animated feature films; network, syndicated and cable television programming; home video entertainment; records; books; toys; consumer products; and interactive entertainment. ***** Copyright © 2000 Warner
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