Zachary Quinto to Play Gershwin for Spielberg?

Published by Jeff Leins on: February 2nd, 2010

Zachary Quinto has signed a deal to play George Gershwin in a biopic of the famous composer for DreamWorks.  Executive producer Steven Spielberg is eying director duties from a script by Doug Wright.

Deadline.com learned the actor known for playing Spock in Star Trek and Sylar on “Heroes” is at the center of a rapidly developing take on Gershwin possibly shooting as soon as April.  Right now he’s going through accent and dialogue training with coaches furnished by DreamWorks, reports the website.  Quinto has excelled in supporting roles, but this could be his breakout role as a lead actor.

Spielberg has yet to decide on which movie he’ll direct next, after wrapping the motion capture Tintin in March 2009.  A remake of Harvey was gearing up, but Spielberg ditched it after he couldn’t find anyone to star in it.  Sitting on the shelf are his biopic of Abraham Lincoln, an Americanization of Oldboy with Will Smith, and a sci-fi story titled Interstellar.

George Gershwin was an American pianist who wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows with his older brother Ira, though “Rhapsody in Blues” is perhaps his most famous song as the opening of Woody Allen’s Manhattan.  Gershwin died at the age of 38 from complications stemming from a cancerous brain tumor.

Quinto recently made a comment about stepping away from Spock for two years, which sent Trekkies new and old into a frenzy.  He later clarified he meant he’ll be taking a break from Trek-related video games, conventions, and the like to focus on other projects (e.g. Gershwin) until production starts on the sequel.  Paramount has set a tentative date of June 29, 2012, so that leaves plenty of time for non-Vulcan roles.