More than 20 years after "Jurassic Park," award-winning director Steven Spielberg is set to adapt another Michael Crichton novel.

This time around, Steven Spielberg will have a go at "Micro," an unfinished story left behind by the prolific author before his death.

The heroes in "Micro" are a group of biotechnology students lost in the middle of a tropical jungle when they are inexplicably shrunk to a size of 12mm.

The techno-thriller was published posthumously in 2011, three years after the author's passing. Crichton had completed one third of the novel at the time, so his publisher, Harper Collins, brought in Richard Preston, a writer specialised in bioterrorism, to complete the book.

Spielberg will delve back into a world he knows well. In 1993, he and Crichton worked together for the first time as the former adapted the latter's book into the worldwide sensation known as "Jurassic Park." Four years later, the two reunited to bring audiences the sequel, "The Lost World," thereby creating a saga that continues to this day with the fourth installment, "Jurassic World," breaking records of all kinds and cementing its legacy as a member of the 'billion dollar club.'

Michael Crichton is also responsible for creating "E.R.," which was also produced by Spielberg. After the success of "Jurassic Park," the novelist approached the director to offer him a script that he wrote in 1974 about his experiences as a medical intern.

The filmmaker decided to go ahead with the project, but not on the big screen. Instead, he produced it for television, and for 15 years NBC ran the program, which featured some of the biggest names in television and cinema, including George Clooney, Angela Bassett, Maura Tierney, Maria Bello and John Stamos to name just a few of the main cast.

Spielberg isn't over science-fiction yet

Known for sci-fi hits such as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "E.T.," "Minority Report" and "War of the Worlds," Spielberg somewhat left his comfort zone recently to take up directing period pieces such as "Lincoln" and "War Horse."

This phase is coming to an end though, with "Micro" in fact being the second sci-fi flick Spielberg has announced recently. It was revealed in March that Spielberg was tied to the big screen adaptation of the novel "Ready Player One," a kind of treasure hunt organized in a virtual reality inspired by video games.

But before diving back into his CGI universes, he will bring a close to his historical period with the December release of "Bridge of Spies," starring Tom Hanks. He will then begin filming "It's What I do," a biopic of war zone photographer played by Jennifer Lawrence.

 

 

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