I had heard several years ago that Steven Spielberg had bought the rights to a screenplay to do the Indy story. But that's been rather a long time ago. Anyone have an update?

There have been 3 forays into making a full scale movie about Indy. 

The first was being worked on by a producer and several of the survivors but it never came to fruition.

The second was Universal Studios buying the rights to tell Hunter Scott's USS Indianapolis story based on his book, "Left For Dead" by Pete Nelson.  There have been some script rewrites but nothing final and the film is still in pre-production.

The third was Warner Brothers Studios contracting Chris Kentis (producer of "Open Water" and friend of several survivors) to make a big budget movie - until they pulled the funding when the economy took a downturn.  Chris is still hopeful that he'll get to tell their story the way it should be done.  It will be based on Doug Stanton's book, "In Harm's Way." 

Hopefully one will be finished soon - and done right - so that the survivors, rescuers, and Lost At Sea families can have the whole story told.

Thank you very much for that comprehensive explanation about the possible making of a great feature film on the USS Indy. The tv movie was OK but i think it can be improved upon. This was too huge of an event to be passed by so lightly...
Chuck

I'd enjoy seeing a movie, telling the story of the Indy, as long as it was accurate and was used respectfully towards those who lost their lives for their country, and those who went through that horrible experience.

If they followed the "In Harm's Way" story, it would be a great film. I too, hope that this film is done soon as so many of the WWII generation is passing away. The Indy story is still one that is not that well known by the general population. Even the WWII generation really didn't know that well about it as it's story was somewhat overtaken by the atomic bombings in Japan. Chuck