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Lena Dunham will write the harrowing survival tale of a Syrian refugee stranded at sea for the big screen. Dunham has been tapped by co-producers Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams to adapt “A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival.” The nonfiction release comes from author Melissa Fleming, the chief spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner and Flatiron Books. It documents the true story of Doaa Al Zamel, a mother of two fleeing Egypt for Sweden by boat. Shipwrecked along the way, Al Zamel survived for days in open water holding...

Talkin' 'bout their generation... Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan got a lot of good press when it came out, for its tribute to those who fought and died to save our western civilization from the German Nazis. It also garnered praise for its powerful and graphic depiction of what it was probably like (Hollywood influences notwithstanding) to have made that deadly but vital beach landing on June 6, 1944. This is the perfect time of year, approaching America's annual Memorial Day celebration and the anniversary of the Normandy invasion, for Paramount to reissue a 20th Anniversary edition of Spielberg's film...

It's good to have friends in high places. Just ask Arnold Schwarzenegger. The California governor, a Republican, has been endorsed in his re-election bid by three of Hollywood's biggest political forces -- all of whom are noted for their big-wallet donations to the Democratic Party. According to the Los Angeles Times, Schwarzeneger has received the backing of Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and media mogul Haim Saban. Such party defections will hurt Schwarzenegger's opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides. "It starts with a personal relationship. They are friends," Andy Spahn, a spokesman for both Spielberg and Katzenberg, told the Times. According to...

US director Steven Spielberg discusses his controversial new film "Munich," which deals with the aftermath of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. In an interview with DER SPIEGEL he talks about the moral aspects of dealing with terrorism and responds to critics who claim he's betrayed the Jewish people. Editor's Note: Steven Spielberg's "Munich" opens in Germany and Israel on Thursday. In addition to this interview with the director, we have also posted DER SPIEGEL's cover story on the film as well as an editorial from the Sept. 11, 1972 issue of the magazine. SPIEGEL: Mr. Spielberg,...

Steven Spielberg's "Munich" is most effective in calling to mind "The Day of the Jackal," a much better movie released in 1973. "Jackal" was inspired by a bungled 1962 attempt on the life of French President Charles de Gaulle by the OAS, a group of outlaw French army officers. The movie's concept held little intrinsic suspense: de Gaulle lived on for another eight years, so it was clear that the fictional assassination attempt in the film would have to fail. What was gripping about the picture was its intense concentration on the stalking of de Gaulle by a shadowy assassin...

Spielberg's Munich Pact By Debbie Schlussel FrontPageMagazine.com | December 22, 2005 When Steven Spielberg began filming Munich in June 2004, he set the tone for his fictional movie about Israeli agents who hunted down the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the slaughter of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Spielberg abruptly stopped filming and closed up shop. Why? Because the 2004 Summer Games were happening in August, and Steven Spielberg didn’t want to upset the terrorists. That’s what Munich is about: not upsetting the terrorists. And rolling over while they attack and kill us. In Steven Spielberg’s world, not going...

As the Monitor noted back in July, “alarm bells went off like crazy when Steven Spielberg hired Tony Kushner last year to rewrite the script of a movie about Israel’s clandestine — and lethal — response to the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.” The Monitor found cause for concern because Kushner is a radical leftist whose views on the Middle East are hardly distinguishable from the hateful screeds found on the most rabidly anti-Israel websites.

As Steven Spielberg ponders the pointlessness of tit-for-tat retaliation between Israelis and Palestinians, audiences will weigh "Munich" and find it wanting -- wanting involving characters and economical storytelling, for starters. The director's long-gestating meditative thriller on the aftermath of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games takes its own sweet time making obvious points about the Jewish nation compromising its own values, and in the process forgets to be a pulse-quickening suspenser. Beautifully made pic will spur newsy media coverage and possible consternation on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, but members of the general public...

Slow to awaken after the 9/11 attacks, Hollywood has finally come around to contributing what it can in the War on Terror: namely, glossy, star-studded movies that sympathize with the enemy. Snip - "V For Vendetta." From Warner Brothers and the creators of "The Matrix" comes this film about a futuristic Great Britain that's become a 'fascist state.' A masked 'freedom fighter' named V uses terror tactics (including bombing the London Underground) to undermine the government - leading to a climax in which the British Parliament is blown up. Natalie Portman stars as a skinhead who turns to 'the revolution'...

IF THERE IS a theme to Steven Spielberg's new alien-invasion movie, "War of the Worlds," it is not that the human spirit has the courage that justifies human survival. Or that American know-how and grit can defeat invaders, even when the situation seems impossible. No, it is more like: If aliens invade, don't fight back. Run. No need for self-defense. Mother Nature will take care of the non- indigenous occupiers. While set in the Northeast, Spielberg's alien war seems very much like what would happen if aliens invaded Hollywood. There would be no praying, no talk of God, no homeowners...

Troops in Spielberg Film Get Sneak Preview By WILLIAM KATES, Associated Press Writer FORT DRUM, N.Y. - They've hunted down terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, opposed rebels in Bosnia and battled warlords in Somalia. Now, 10th Mountain Division troops are facing off against Martian invaders — with no less than the fate of the Earth in the balance. The soldiers were called on by Steven Spielberg, who picked Fort Drum troops to star in his remake of the H.G. Wells classic "War of the Worlds." The movie, starring Tom Cruise, opens nationwide Wednesday, but the actor-soldiers were treated to a...

While running for Senate against Bill Weld in 1996, a lot of the same issues that dog Kerry now were part of the political landscape. To placate some concerns, John Kerry allowed reporter Charles Sennott of the Boston Globe to watch five hours of his homemade video that was taken while he was on the Meekong Delta in Vietnam. The article, which is entited: "The making of the candidates: JOHN FORBES KERRY" was published on page A31 of the Globe on 10/6/1996. In it, Kerry admitted that he had used a video camera while in combat and had reenacted many...