Disney developing Don Quixote movie with Captain Phillips writer
Disney is looking to tilt at a few windmills. The studio is developing a big-screen adaptation of the classic Spanish novel Don Quixote, with Billy Ray writing the script, EW has confirmed.
The Captain Phillips and Hunger Games screenwriter will tackle Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's groundbreaking 1605 book about a delusional hidalgo who fancies himself a knight and embarks on a chivalric quest — in a world where chivalry is dead and buried.
In addition to writing, Ray is on board to produce the live-action project alongside Gordon Gray (Miracle, Million Dollar Arm). The project is in the early stages of development.
Disney has long sought to bring Don Quixote to the screen in one form or another, including an animated short in the 1940s, an animated feature in the 1950s and late '90s, and a Johnny Depp-produced live-action film as recently as 2012. None have made it to the screen.
Of late the studio has had considerable success adapting bygone tales as live-action films, such as Maleficent, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the Don Quixote news.
