Steven Spielberg Denies He's Planning to Direct Bin Laden Movie

Photo credit: Adriana M. Barraza/WENN

It is confirmed that Steven Spielberg is not working on a movie about the Osama Bin Laden raid. A representative for the veteran filmmaker has clarified that he and DreamWorks never plan to adapt "No Easy Day", a book about the hunt for Bin Laden which is written by one of the Navy SEALs who joined the infamous attack in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

"Neither Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Studios or DreamWorks Television will be optioning Mark Owen's book, No Easy Day," Spielberg's rep Marvin Levy says, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.

Report that the "Jurassic Park" helmer is set to direct the Bin Laden movie first sparked on Monday, August 27 as New York Post claimed that the A-list filmmaker was in talks with the author of the book, Mark Owen. The site also said that Owen, whose real name is Matt Bissonnette, has already been in talks with DreamWorks about turning his book into a movie.

"He met with HBO's Richard Plepler, and he also met with Spielberg," a so-called source told NY Post. Another source added, "He is still talking to DreamWorks and Spielberg."

According to the site, Owen himself was "one of the first men through the door on the third floor of Bin Laden's lair in Pakistan." He was also there when the Al Qaeda leader died in May 2011. His book, "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden", will be released in the U.S. on September 11.

Movies about the hunt for Bin Laden have stolen the interests of several studios recently. Sony Pictures will release "Zero Dark Thirty", which is directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by her longtime collaborator Mark Boal on December 19. The Weinstein Company, on the other hand, has obtained the rights to John Stockwell's "Code Name: Geronimo", which also focuses on the hunt for the late Al Qaeda leader.