Sorkin Takes Spielberg to Trial

Fri., Jul. 13, 2007 3:43 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

With his Studio 60 now shuttered, Aaron Sorkin is giving up on TV for the time being. Instead, the esteemed creator of The West Wing is turning his focus to the big screen with an assist from Steven Spielberg.

Sorkin has signed a deal to write three screenplays for Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios, the first of which, The Trial of the Chicago 7, he and the filmmaker have been developing as a potential Spielberg directing vehicle, the studio confirmed Friday.

The historical drama will focus on the turbulent demonstrations that occurred in the Windy City during the Democratic convention in 1968.

Sorkin has been spending the past six months researching the clash between anti-Vietnam protesters and city police and National Guardsman. Seven of the protest's leaders, including noted counterculture figures Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin and political activist Tom Hayden (who later married—and divorced—Jane Fonda), were arrested and tried. All were eventually acquitted after a highly publicized trial that degenerated into a media circus.

DreamWorks' longtime principals Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald will produce the picture. A studio spokeswoman says that Spielberg may direct the film once he's finished work on the fourth Indiana Jones adventure, which he's currently filming with pals George Lucas and Harrison Ford.

(Meanwhile, Showtime has confirmed that it has ordered a pilot from Spielberg and DreamWorks Telelvision for The United States of Tara, a comedy about a mother with multiple-personality syndrome.)

The studio rep did not say what Sorkin's other two screenplays concerned. The writer's personal publicist was unavailable for comment.

The prolific Sorkin became one of Hollywood's most sought-after scribes following his adaptation of his stage play A Few Good Men into the hugely popular 1992 film starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson. His other feature films include Malice (1993) and The American President (1995); most recently he wrote Charlie Wilson's War, a Mike Nichols-helmed political drama starring Oscar winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman and due out this Christmas from Universal.

Still, television is where Sorkin has truly made his mark on pop culture. He won four Emmys for The West Wing during that show's seven-year run and created the critically admired but ultimately low-rated Sports Night for ABC and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip for NBC, both of which were canceled after just one season.

Aside from his DreamWorks commitments, Sorkin is also working on a new play, The Farnsworth Invention, set to debut on Broadway this fall.