Former President Bill Clinton and best-selling author James Patterson are set to meet with box-office king Steve Spielberg about turning their upcoming thriller into a blockbuster movie, The Hollywood Reporter says.
The meeting comes amid a "heated" Hollywood battle for film rights to "The President is Missing," which will be published next June by Little, Brown and Company.
The first novel for Clinton, it's described in a publicity blurb as a powerful one-of-a kind-thriller filled with the kind of insider details that only a president can know.
In addition to Spielberg, Clinton and Patterson also will powwow with superstar George Clooney, directing wunderkind J.J. Abrams, and producer Steve Bing, according to The Reporter's Rebecca Ford and Kim Masters.
The former commander in chief and Patterson, whose books have sold more than 300 million copies, submitted a confidential 10-page proposal to "buyers and top producers" on Monday, the publication said.
While details of the plot are being kept under wraps, the high-powered Hollywood names being mentioned show that Clinton and Abrams are aiming for a big-budget box-office smash.
Spielberg has directed such hits as "Jaws," "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial" "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Saving Private Ryan." Clooney has starred in movies like "Michael Clayton," "Gravity" and "Ocean's 11." Abrams' films include two "Star Trek" entries and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Spielberg has won three Oscars, Clooney has won two, and Abrams has scored a Primetime Emmy and a Writers Guild of America award.
Clinton is author of the best-selling autobiography, "My Life," and Patterson has penned or co-authored dozens of chart-topping reads including "Kiss the Girls," "Along Came a Spider" and "1st to Die."
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