Steven Spielberg-Tom Hanks Thriller Now Titled ‘Bridge Of Spies’

DreamWorks Pictures and Fox 2000 Pictures’ upcoming Cold War thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks has been titled Bridge Of Spies. It has already secured an October 16 release date from Disney, which is handling domestic distribution. The Glienicke Bridge in Berlin was nicknamed “the Bridge of Spies” as it was the site of several prisoner exchanges between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The pic is based on the true story of James Donovan (Hanks), the CIA attorney who is thrust behind the Iron Curtain when he is sent to negotiate the release of captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers. The Coen Brothers wrote the 1960s-set screenplay off Matt Charman’s original script. Mark Rylance, Scott Shepherd, Amy Ryan, Sebastian Koch, Austin Stowell and Alan Alda co-star. Fox 2000 came aboard in June to co-finance the pic with with DreamWorks in association with Participant Media, and will distribute internationally.

The production also announced today that regular Spielberg composer John Williams will not be doing the score for this one due to a health issue that has been resolved. Not a bad replacement though: 12-time Oscar nominee Thomas Newman (one of his noms was for the Hanks-starrer Saving Mr Banks) will step in. Williams will rejoin Spielberg for his next directorial effort, The BFG, which begins shooting after Bridge Of Spies and already has a July 4, 2016 release date.

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