Steven Spielberg reveals the Colman Domingo movie that almost happened — and why it fell apart
Steven Spielberg has pulled back the curtain on a long-gestating movie he ultimately scrapped — one that would’ve teamed him with Colman Domingo years earlier. The near-greenlight never rolled cameras, but it ended up steering him toward what came next.
If you thought Steven Spielberg had tried his hand at just about every genre under the sun, here’s one you probably didn’t have on your Spielberg bingo card: an opera film about the making of Porgy and Bess. And bizarre as that sounds, it actually got surprisingly close to happening—only for Spielberg to pull the plug right before things went full steam ahead in a way only he can.
Spielberg’s Lost Opera Epic
The legendary director dished up this little-known bit of movie history on Amy Poehler's podcast, 'Good Hang'. At one point, Spielberg had his sights set on creating a film that would dive into the lives of George and Ira Gershwin and tell the story of how they crafted and staged Porgy and Bess. He was well past the ‘just an idea’ stage too—there was a script in hand, castings underway, and even some key talent already being lined up.
The film itself would have focused on Porgy, the role originated by Todd Duncan—a disabled Black beggar in Charleston whose main arc is trying to rescue Bess from her violent, drug-dealing partner. All of which is based, if you’re keeping score at home, on the work of Dorothy and DuBose Heyward, and was already made famous by the 1959 film with Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge.
'I was going to make a movie about Ira and George Gershwin, and I was going to make a movie about the process of writing and staging Porgy and Bess,' Spielberg said. He pointed out that when he met Colman Domingo as part of his search for a modern Todd Duncan, he just knew Domingo was the man for the role.
Why Spielberg Walked Away
Despite having a cast that was starting to take shape, Spielberg admitted he caught a serious case of cold feet just before the big commitment. In his own words, he started getting ‘second thoughts’ about the whole thing after making it that far down the road. So, in classic Spielberg fashion, he bailed—ditching the nearly-ready project and leaving Domingo and the rest of the cast in that strange limbo filmmakers dread.
He explained that this was literally the only reason he and Colman Domingo didn’t work together at the time. Spielberg didn’t go into detail on what exactly spooked him—creative crisis, scale, who knows—but that project was quietly shelved before a single frame was shot.
A Partnership That Eventually Happened Anyway
If you’re a fan of Colman Domingo (or just have a thing for story arcs that find a way), the two did eventually get round to making films together. Spielberg remembered the actor years later and cast him as Private Harold Green in Lincoln (2012). That was hardly the end of it:
- Spielberg produced the 2023 version of The Color Purple, with Domingo involved.
- More recently, in a bit of a genre swerve, they teamed up for the sci-fi thriller Disclosure Day.
So while that original opera project never saw the light of day, Spielberg and Domingo’s creative paths have crossed repeatedly since. And, just for trivia’s sake, Spielberg did eventually get his shot at a big splashy stage musical too—with West Side Story instead.