Harvey Weinstein and Steven Spielberg in a race to tell same Vatican story

It's a real Hollywood showdown, with Harvey Weinstein and Steven Spielberg both working on films that will tell the true story of a Vatican kidnapping in 1858.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, both Hollywood heavyweights are working on their own versions about the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, a six-year-old Jewish boy who was taken from his family by the Vatican and raised Catholic.

The story was told by author David Kertzer in 1997 with his book "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara."

For Weinstein, the project has been eight years in the making.

Originally, the pair were supposed to work on the project together until Spielberg branched out on his own in April.

In the Weinstein version, Robert De Niro is in talks to play Pope Pius IX, while Mark Rylance is set to star as the pope in the Spielberg production.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Weinstein is said to be fast tracking production of his film to beat Spielberg to the theaters, with production slated to start in January.