FROM THE HALLS OF DREAMWORKS, SPIELBERG PLANNING MONTEZUMA EPIC

Steven Spielberg is reportedly teaming up again with Schindler’s List writer Steve Zallian on Montezuma, a never-produced screenplay written nearly 50 years ago by Oscar-winning scribe Dalton Trumbo. (Trumbo won the Oscar for the 1956 film The Brave One under the pseudonym Robert Rich — it was the name of a nephew of the King Brothers, who produced the film — intended to mask his true identity as one of the notorious blacklisted “Hollywood Ten.”) According to published reports, Trumbo originally wrote the script in 1965 for Kirk Douglas, who was the first producer to give Trumbo screen credit under his own name for his 1960 film Spartacus following the post-war blacklisting period. The screenplay reportedly explores the relationship between the Aztec King and Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés. According to Deadline.com, Javier Bardem is considering playing the role of Cortés, with Zaillian coming onboard as both writer and producer. No word on whether Trumbo, who died in 1975, would share in the writing credits. (Deadline said that the film may be retitled Cortez.)