Hanks, Spielberg and Coen Brothers join together for Cold War thriller

If you were the head of a Hollywood studio, who would you want to star in, direct and write your next big movie? It’s a fair bet that Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and the Coen Brothers are names that would come high on many a list. The fantasy is now reality, however, because these kingpins are to join together for an upcoming Cold War thriller.

This dreamiest of dream teams will be making an as yet untitled film based on the true story of James Donovan, the lawyer recruited by the CIA in an attempt to set free an American pilot shot down over Russia in 1960.

Whilst this will be the first time the foursome have worked together, they are no strangers to one another. Hanks and Spielberg are, of course, a famous pairing for films including Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal. As for Joel and Ethan, they had Spielberg on board as executive producer for True Grit and gave Hanks the lead role in The Ladykillers.

These boys are major players in the film food chain, however, and as such they all have other projects in the pipeline. Currently on the go for Hanks is indie flick A Hologram for the King, while the Coens have already completed the script for the forthcoming Angelina Jolie vehicle, Unbroken. As many a Roald Dahl fan will know, 2015 will see Spielberg start work on an all-new version of The BFG.

Back to this Cold War thriller anyway, which was originally written as a play by Brit Matt Charman. By its nature, this film will be very much all American, but when the line-up is as good as this, we’ll let them off. With ten Oscars between them already, there could be many more in the not too distant future.