Zachary Quinto in Talks to Star in Speilberg-Helmed Gershwin Biopic

Television and film star Zach Quinto is expected to star in the upcoming George Gershwin biopic, produced by DreamWorks and Steven Speilberg, according to published reports. Quinto, star of television's "Heroes" and the recent JJ Abrams Star Trek remake, will play the famed composer who, during his short life, wrote many vocal and theatrical works, including more than a dozen Broadway shows.

The screenplay is to be penned by Memoirs of a Geisha writer and Creditor's director Doug Wright, and produced by Marc Platt ("Wanted") and famed singer and pianist Michael Feinstein.

While no official announcements on the project have been made by DreamWorks, the deal is reportedly nearing completion and the film will take a similar form to the company's biopic on Martin Luther King Jr., headed by Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider, that went into production in May.

The film will detail Gershwin's entire life: from his childhood in Brooklyn as a first generation American, to him untimely death in Hollywood in 1937 at 38.

During his career, he wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows with his older brother Ira Gershwin. George Gershwin's music, which spanned popular and classical genres, includes the hits "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris." His first published song was "When You Want 'Em You Can't Get 'Em, When You've Got 'Em, You Don't Want 'Em." It was published in 1916 when Gershwin was only 17 years old and earned him a sum total of $5.