Spielberg to the Rescue?

By Stephen M. Silverman

Friday September 04, 1998 12:00 AM EDT

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Yahoo Buzz
• E-mail

Steven Spielberg, diplomat. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker has stepped in to help cool down the heated situation between Mike Myers and Universal Pictures over the proposed feature movie "Dieter," based on one of the comic actor's characters from "Saturday Night Live." Myers said he backed out of making the film because he wasn't happy with the script (which he had helped to write). The studio, which filed suit against him, claimed that Myers was fine with the script, causing Myers to issue a statement saying that Universal was trying to "bully" him into making the movie. Spielberg entered the picture at the request of his DreamWorks co-captain, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who has been working with Myers over the past year on a movie called "Shrek" (Myers is supplying a voice to the film). "It's one friend helping another," said a Spielberg spokesman.