Steven Spielberg Teams with Jennifer Lawrence for War Film

For a brief time after Steven Spielberg’s most recent directorial effort, the stately biopic Lincoln, it became a mystery what the filmmaker’s next picture would look like. Indeed, at this point in his career, the legendary filmmaker seems to drop out of more directorial efforts than he lenses, having recently delayed Robopocalypse with Chris Hemsworth and Anne Hathaway, and then Bradley Cooper’s Iraq War vehicle, American Sniper, which morphed into last year’s controversial Oscar contender from Clint Eastwood.

Well, this measured pace appears to be coming to an end. While post-production is still going on strong on his 2015 effort, the intriguing St. James Place (which features a script by the Coen Brothers), the director is already setting up his next effort with America’s current most popular movie star, Jennifer Lawrence.

As reported in Deadline, the two are joining forces for an adaptation of It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War. The project has been the centerpiece of a competitive auction in Hollywood that saw the likes of Working Title trying to win the project for Reese Witherspoon, and Darren Aronofsky who wanted to reteam with his Black Swan muse Natalie Portman on the film. However, the popular memoir landed at Warner Bros. when it was able to package Spielberg and Lawrence for the same title.

The memoir was written by Lynsey Addario, an American war photojournalist who has spent her career covering conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Libya, the Congo, and Haiti, amongst others. An excerpt from the memoir was published in The New York Times this past January, which we highly recommend you read right here. Since its publication, the book has become a hotly sought after property in Hollywood.

The film is a major win for Warner Bros. and has all the makings of a must-see in the near future.