McG Heads '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Scripts
Almost three years ago, there was word that New Line was going to remake 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -- Disney's first live-action film that starred Kirk Douglas and James Mason. In 2007, Sam Raimi said he was looking over scripts (as producer, not director), and then nothing. The project just seemed to fade away. Well, while there's no remake on the immediate horizon, Variety reports that we are going to get an origin story courtesy of Disney and helmed by McG.The project is called 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo, and will (obviously) feature Nemo as he creates the Nautilus. Bill Marsilli penned the screenplay, and Disney is fast-tracking this puppy to film sometime this year -- presumably before the director kicks the next Terminator into gear.
I wouldn't be surprised if this means that New Line (under Warner Bros.) gets that remake cooking to compete with, or go alongside Disney's creation. Should it happen, it would be nice to two companies compete on something complimentary rather than repetitive (think Steve Prefontaine or Truman Capote). Regardless, McG is certainly making a solid name for himself, but what of Nemo's origin? Do you want to know, or do you just want him and the Nautilus to be a mystery of the sea?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-07-2009 @ 10:53AM
Paul Kulik said...
McG does an outstanding job on Supernatural. Hopefully, they will not mess with the beautiful, steam-punk design of Nemo's Nautilus. I would have liked to see a remake , earlier, with a younger Michael Douglas as Ned Land. Maybe he can play Nemo ?
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1-08-2009 @ 6:41AM
Greg said...
The origins of Captain Nemo? As Patton Oswalt said about the Star Wars Prequels, "I don't care where the stuff I love comes from; I just love the stuff I love!"
Captain Nemo's origins are described in the original. No need to retrace it; or remake it for that matter.
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1-08-2009 @ 12:12PM
Sam said...
The demographic this film will be marketed to will have no idea there was an original '20,000 Leagues.' So, if I were in that demographic and watched a movie with this title and none of the characters make it to the titular depth; I'd kinda feel ripped off that I just watched a movie about a guy building a kick-ass submarine but never drops it 20K.
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1-16-2009 @ 8:47PM
Hugh said...
Sadly, Sam is right - will anyone go out and read the original from 1867? Actually, I can wait to see a Disney "family-friendly" version (uuurk) of one of the most memorable schizoid villains of classic popular fiction.
And by the way, "20,000 Leagues" is a measure of distance, not depth.
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1-17-2009 @ 1:49AM
Hugh said...
Oh oh, sounds like Will Smith might be attached to play the lead - he's not going to be Ned Land, 'cos Ned, according tto the screenwriter, isn't in the story at all.
Sorry, but Captain Nemo is not family friendly - have you seen James Mason in the original film? He's not very friendly to anyone.
I thought Liam Neeson would be good.
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