STEVEN SPIELBERG - SPIELBERG PLAYS DOWN YIMOU COLLABORATION REPORTS

STEVEN SPIELBERG has dismissed reports he's set to work with famed Chinese director ZHANG YIMOU, insisting he's been misinterpreted. Rumours were rife the movie-makers were to team up for a screen version of the classic Chinese novel, JOURNEY TO THE WEST. However, a spokesman for the star tells Spielberg fan site SpielbergFilms.com, "There does not appear to be anything to it. "It's not impossible that something vaguely might have been said which was interpreted that way." Earlier this year (APR06), Spielberg signed on as a consultant to the HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS director in designing the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.