20.000 Leagues

+++ UPDATE 05/17/2010 Parallel development, ain't it fun? It was now revealed that producers Ridley and Tony Scott are also developing a "20.000 Leagues Under The Sea" with director Timur Bekmambetov attached. Since both Fincher and Bekmambetov have a remarkable visual style, I wish both of these films would make it to the big screen. But I guess at least one of them is not going to happen. +++

Big thanks to vigilant commenter MCU for this incredible news: David Fincher is rumored to be in talks with Disney's new head Sean Bailey to take on a new adaptation of Jules Verne's classic "20.000 Leagues Under The Sea" -- in a style described to be "in the vein of STAR WARS or THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

Yes, I have come to be very reluctant when voicing my true excitement about a "new" David Fincher project, since my gut knows darn well that of the 10+ titles Fincher has been attached to develop only a couple will ever get made. This new project is no exception: Until Fincher has finished shooting and editing and the curtain opens to pop up his name along with this film's title sequence, there's room for doubt.

HOWEVER...

Man, I gotta say: This project sounds absolutely mind-blowing. I love many of the stories Fincher has been circling since "Benjamin Button"; but then I loved many of the ones he circled even before "Button" and "Zodiac", which unfortunately never came about in their perfect material-and-director line up.

But Fincher working with Disney? On a project explicitely aiming to be "a four-quadrant tentpole movie"? Ambitious to be "wide-appeal, pre-branded entertainment" and "visually dazzling"?

Sounds too good to be true. This project would definitely reveal layers of Fincher we have never seen, but merged with the greatest of his talents: A gut for telling an original, appealing story, playing out in perfect timing, shot in his signature, unique, flawless style -- just world class filmmaking!

I better stop ranting. This project has me hyperventilating. I truly hope Fincher "sinks" this! What do you think?

Here's the exclusive, original source:

http://www.heatvisionblog.com/...

...and one more thing: The HeatVisionsBlog website is incredibly messed up to read, at least for me. It will show the article, then cut away to a white-out blank nothing for no evident reason.

This trick worked for me: As soon as the site first pops up, hit CTRL+A to mark-up the entire text, then hit CTRL+C to copy, and paste the text into your word processor.

UPDATE LINK:
http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=17724

4 comments:

  1. My "Finchtuition" tells me it's not going to happen. With a project of this scale, there's going to be too many meddling hands in the script, causing him to shatter the hopes and dreams of film nerds by walking away. I really like Ben Button, but I think to a certain degree it was a compromised effort, and he'll be wary of making the same concessions again. Unless he can commission a great script that has appeal across the board to both the mouse suits and the producers who actually care about cinematic quality.

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  2. GREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT NEW !!!!!

    A new Fincher film with a BIG BIG BIG Disney budget.

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  3. I hope this happens.

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  4. Fincher + Blockbuster = ?

    I'm not sure this is going to work. Fincher tried to play nice with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and it didn't work. I seriously hope he will not sign on for this!

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