By Alexander Tresniowski/Reported by Wendy Cole

It had to happen. Steven Spielberg, the director who never grew up, has made a big-budget movie about Peter Pan. It's called Hook, and it features Robin Williams as the flying sprite, Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook and Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell. "It's a dream cast and a dream project," says Spielberg, and it's also a Hook with a twist: Peter Pan is a grown-up arbitrager who must recapture his lost youth to save his children. "The idea of a revisionist Peter Pan was so full of magic," says the director, "that I was immediately hooked, so to speak." He wasn't the only one: Hoffman wanted to make the movie for his kids, while Williams says, "The fantasy part is incredible. Part Errol Flynn, part Amelia Earhart, with no bags." A visit to the set was this summer's hot ticket in Hollywood.

But the biggest fuss surrounding Hook had to do with Roberts. She ignited a media fire storm by calling off her June wedding to Kiefer Sutherland, then stoked the flame by playing public footsie with a new beau, Jason Patric. Her big summer film, Dying Young, died young, just as rumors raged that she might be replaced on Hook by Michelle Pfeiffer. "Next I expected to hear that Elvis was playing Captain Hook," says Williams. Spielberg admits "the rumors were a bit disruptive," but adds, "Julia's been terrific to work with. She's surviving, she's O.K." Still, some of the shine is off her star. Her characters embody enduring innocence, but the odds against Roberts, only 23, are greater; her heartbreaks are public spectacle. Like a grown-up Peter Pan, she could use a little fairy dust these days.