Variety reports the very good news that Steven Spielberg's next movie might be a new adaptation of Donald Hamilton's MATT HELM books. The Paramount project has been in development at various studios for decades, but apparently a script by A-list screenwriter Paul Attanasio that's closer to Matt Damon's BOURNE IDENTITY than Dean Martin's campy 1960s Matt Helm movies has everybody excited.
And in other lit spy-to-film news, Ron Howard has signed on to direct the movie adaptation of Robert Ludlum's PARSIFAL MOSAIC from a script by David Self.
If memory serves, PARSIFAL will be (or was) turned into a Jason Bourne caper. Seems to me I read or saw something saying the plan was to take Ludlum’s other novels and use them for the Bourne franchise.
This was at least a couple of years ago, and it could be all wrong, but that’s what I’m remembering….
The thing I hope is that a movie might spur interest in the books again. Hamilton’s son has an unpublished manuscript his late father wrote.