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The multiple Oscar winners and off-screen pals are in final talks to re-team for the airport comedy 'Terminal'. According to the trades, the Hollywood heavyweight couple have been kicking around the idea for months. And sources say the DreamWorks flick could start shooting toward the end of the year.
Aside from potentially duplicating the critical and commercial success of their first two films together, 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Catch Me If You Can', the project's timing could also open Spielberg up to finally get the long-awaited fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise off the ground this year.
'Terminal' will star Hanks on a down-on-his-luck immigrant from Europe who takes up permanent residence at a New York airport after his passport becomes null and void due to a war that erases his homeland from the map. Hilarity will ensue as Hanks befriends the airport staff and falls head-over-heels for a flight attendant.
Joining box-office darlings Hanks and Spielberg will be writers Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can) and Sacha Gervasi (Simone).
In addition to their monster movie collaborations, Hanks and Spielberg have successfully joined forces as TV producers, too, overseeing 2001's Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning HBO miniseries 'Band of Brothers'.
Before he takes off with 'Terminal', however, Hanks will need to wrap his current project, the family-friendly 'Polar Express'. He's also signed on for the Coen brothers' remake of the 1955 heist comedy 'The Ladykillers'.
With 'Terminal' on the calendar for a late 2003 start, Spielberg would be free to bring Indiana Jones out of mothballs early. The Paramount-based film is currently slated for a summer 2005 release, but the studio is angling for a 2004 debut.
Spielberg and Harrison Ford are already attached to the picture, penned by 'The Green Mile's Frank Darabont (and based on a story by George Lucas). Like Spielberg, Ford also looks to be free in the coming months, as well. He just needs to wrap up work on the action comedy Hollywood Homicide, opposite Josh Hartnett , which will bow this summer.
And no worries for those concerned about Spielberg juggling two would-be blockbusters so close together. He's no slouch at multitasking. He did back-to-back work with 'Minority Report' and 'Catch Me If You Can', as well as 'Jurassic Park' and 'Schindler's List'.
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