Ang Lee Eyed For Moses Biopic 'Gods And Kings' After Steven Spielberg Drops Out

Biblical epics seem to be all the rage these days, but one director that won't be jumping on that bandwagon is Steven Spielberg. The filmmaker has been linked to Warner Bros.' Moses biopic Gods and Kings since about 2011, but has finally decided to move on. The studio is thinking big for his replacement, however, and has made moves toward Ang Lee as a possible new director. Read more after the jump.

Lee hasn't entered talks just yet, but he's reportedly "intrigued" by the project. Of course, Lee has plenty of other options as well. He just signed on to direct the FX pilot Tyrant, and has been circling the Cleopatra movie that David Fincher recently vacated. Spielberg, meanwhile, continues to work on his delayed sci-fi flick Robopocalypse among other things.

Scripted by Stuart Hazeldine and Michael Green, Gods and Kings follows Moses from his adoption in infancy all the way through his acquisition of the Ten Commandments. The film has previously been described as a "gritty" take along the lines of Saving Private Ryan or Braveheart, as opposed to "glossy" approach taken by other projects.

Naturally, Gods and Kings isn't the only Moses project in development. Spielberg's decision reportedly puts puts Warner Bros. in a tough spot as a rival project over at 20th Century Fox has started begun picking up steam. That project has a script by Bill Collage and Adam Cooper (Tower Heist), and apparently has Ridley Scott attached to direct once he wraps up The Counselor.