Latest News: Director Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks Part Ways on American Sniper

Steven Spielberg has backed out of directing American Sniper, which we reported in May would be his next project. DreamWorks, which was set to co-produce this adaptation of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle's memoirs with Warner Bros., is also departing the project, leaving Warner Bros. to find a new filmmaker. Here's the official description of the book, which is being adapted by Jason Dean Hall (Paranoia) and has Bradley Cooper attached to star.

"He is the deadliest American sniper ever, called "The Devil" by the enemies he hunted and "The Legend" by his Navy SEAL brothers. From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States Military history. The Pentagon has officially confirmed more then 150 of Kyle's kills (the previous American record was 109), but it has declined to verify the astonishing total number for this book. Iraqi insurgents feared Kyle so much they named him Al-Shaitan ("the devil") and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle earned a legendary status among his fellow SEALS, Marines, and U.S. Army soldiers, who he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops and stealth positions. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle's masterful account of his extraodinary battlefield experiences of all time.

A native Texan who learned to shoot on childhood hunting trips with his father, Kyle was a champion saddle-bronc rider prior to joining the Navy. After 9/11, he was thrust into the front lines of the War of Terror, and soon found his calling as a world-class sniper who performed best under fire. In Fallujah, where he recorded a personal-record 2,100-yard kill shot, Kyle braved heavy fire to rescue a group of Marines trapped on the street; in Ramadi, he stared down insurgents with his pistol in close combat. Kyle talks honestly about the pain of war-of twice being shot and experiencing the tragic deaths of two close friends."

It isn't known what project Steven Spielberg will tackle next. He was slated to make Robopocalypse after his critically-acclaimed drama Lincoln, before the adaptation was indefinitely delayed to be re-developed.

American Sniper is in development and stars Bradley Cooper.

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