Yesterday I spoke with producer Walter F. Parkes about one of his earliest projects, WarGames, which hit DVD shelves in a 25th Annniversary Edition on July 29. Towards the end of the interview, I asked Parkes about the status of The Trial of the Chicago 7, which he is producing, and he confirmed that, as it stands now, Steven Spielberg will not direct the film.

Walter F. Parkes: We're working on Chicago 7. We have a wonderful script. We haven't quite settled on a director yet, and that's probably the next one down the pipe.

So, (Steven) Spielberg isn't going to be directing Chicago 7 then?

Walter F. Parkes: No, he is not going to do it. He kind of had a moment of availability to do it, and the strike got in the way. We were unable to do the script work that Steven felt he needed and then, by the time the strike was over, he had already committed himself to to begin production on Tintin, which he's shooting along with (producer) Peter Jackson, and I guess it's in October or November. So, it's not inconcievable that he would come back, but for now, he's had to move on to Tintin, which is something that he's been working on for 20 years.

We'll be sure to keep you posted on any and all of the latest developments surrounding The Trial of the Chicago 7 as soon as we have more information.