The Hollywood Reporter says that Marshall is a top contender for director of the upcoming film. Steven Spielberg had once planned to direct the Columbia Pictures/Red Wagon Entertainment motion picture. Although he has chosen not to direct, Spielberg will remain a producer on the project. "Geisha" is based on Arthur Golden's novel of the same. Golden's novel, a bestseller, tells the fictional story of Nitta Sayuri's life as a geisha. The novel begins in a 1929 fishing village when the nine-year-old Sayuri is taken from her home and sold into slavery. At a renowned geisha house, she makes the transformation and learns the art of the geisha.

A Tony Award nominee for his work on Damn Yankees, Little Me, She Loves Me, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Cabaret, Rob Marshall made his feature-film directorial debut this year with the much-in-the-news film "Chicago." "Chicago" won the Academy Award for Best Film and will return to theatres next month prior to its release on DVD and home video.