We recently reported that DreamWorks is in the business of bringing a new adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic The Grapes of Wrath back to the screens in time for the novel's 75th anniversary next year.  Handling the screenwriting task for that particular endeavor will likely be Tracy Letts (Killer Joe, August: Osage County).  As DreamWorks is wrapping up its deal with Steinbeck's estate in order to secure the feature rights, the studio is also in talks with Letts to bring him on board.  Hit the jump for more.

The Wrap reports that Letts is in talks with DreamWorks to adapt The Grapes of Wrath.  Steven Spielberg is currently attached as a producer only, although he recently backed out of directing Bradley Cooper in American Sniper with DreamWorks also exiting, so there's a possibility he'll take over the helm.

Watch the trailer for John Ford's 1940 adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath below:

Here’s the novel description (via Amazon):

A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. Although it follows the movement of thousands of men and women and the transformation of an entire nation, The Grapes of Wrath is also the story of one Oklahoma family, the Joads, who are driven off their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity.