August 27, 2014 - 12:30 AMT
Participant Media, DreamWorks team for Spielberg's Cold War spy thriller

Participant Media is teaming up with DreamWorks Studios and Fox for Steven Spielberg's upcoming Cold War spy thriller with Tom Hanks, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Written by Joel and Ethan Coen, the currently untitled project is based on an original script by Matt Charman and centers on the true story of James Donovan, an attorney who finds himself thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him on the near-impossible mission to negotiate the release of a captured American U-2 pilot. The film also stars Mark Rylance and Amy Ryan.

The project will begin filming in September in New York and Berlin. Spielberg is also producing with Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger. Adam Somner and Daniel Lupi are executive producing, while Fox is also co-financing the film and will handle international distribution. Disney will release the film domestically on Oct. 16, 2015.

"We have had a successful and rewarding partnership with Participant on six total films over the past years. We look forward to continuing this productive relationship, which allows us to bring exciting and quality films to audiences around the world," said DreamWorks Studios President and COO Jeff Small in a statement.

The company will also join Dreamworks on period drama The Light Between Oceans, based on M.L. Stedman's novel. Written and directed by Derek Cianfrance, the project stars Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Rachel Weisz.

The Light Between Oceans, which starts filming in New Zealand and Australia in September, is set on an Australian island in the years following World War I. A lighthouse keeper and his wife are faced with a moral dilemma when a boat washes ashore with a dead man and a two-month-old infant. They decide to raise the child as their own, with devastating consequences.

Heyday Films' David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford are producing, and Disney will distribute domestically and in select international territories, while Mister Smith Entertainment will handle distribution in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Photo: Movieweb