Ed Zwick to direct "The Talisman"?

[Sascha]

From HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:

May 12, 2004

Zwick circles 'Talisman' for D'Works, Uni
By Liza Foreman

"The Last Samurai" helmer Ed Zwick is in negotiations to direct "The
Talisman," the pet project from Steven Spielberg and Kathleen
Kennedy that has been in development for more than 20 years.

The move follows the departure of "House of Sand and Fog" director
Vadim Perelman this month from the DreamWorks/Universal Pictures co-
production.

Published in 1984, the fantasy novel from Stephen King and Peter
Straub follows a 12-year-old boy who sets out on a quest in the real
world and a parallel universe, known as the Territories, to find a
talisman to save his mother, the queen of the Territories. Ehren
Kruger wrote the screenplay.

Spielberg and Kennedy have had the project in development going back
to when Kennedy was an executive at Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment
banner. The shingle was based at Universal at the time.

Perelman dropped out of the project earlier this month in a mutual
parting of ways. He has a remaining three months left on a one-year,
first-look deal with the studio. Perelman made his directorial debut
for DreamWorks with the Oscar-nominated "House of Sand and Fog."

Zwick is repped by CAA.