'American Sniper' screenwriter to make directorial debut with 'Thank You For Your Service'

Writing the highest-grossing film of last year gives you some liberties in Hollywood, but screenwriter Jason Hall will stay in familiar territory for his next project. He jumps from one war story, American Sniper, to another, as he wrote and makes his directorial debut with the PTSD drama Thank You For Your Service.

Hall takes over for Steven Spielberg, who flirted with the project back in February as a potential reunion with his Lincoln star Daniel Day-Lewis, but between finishing up this fall's Bridges of Spies, filming The BFG and possibly moving on to helm Ready Player One not long after, it looks as though the project slipped through the cracks. This becomes the second time Spielberg didn't end up directing from a Hall screenplay, for he initially planned to direct American Sniper before dropping out and having Clint Eastwood step in his place.

THR reported on the switch-up in the director's chair. Despite Spielberg no longer directing, DreamWorks remains involved. They first bought the rights to David Finkel's book of the same name back in March 2013, before it was published in October 2014. The movie follows three soldiers struggling to integrate back into family and civilian life after coming home from Iraq. Hall already dealt with exploring PTSD in American Sniper, but hopefully he's given more room to delve into it in this new movie.

There's no word yet on when they plan to shoot and release this, but with Hall receiving an Oscar nomination for his last screenplay, expect this one to come around one awards season or another in the near future. It'll most likely be next year's race. There's also no confirmation or talk of who'll star in this one either. Despite Day-Lewis tickling with the project, he's likely not going to stay on board, though Hall will likely get a better cast than most for his debut.

Image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com