It always saddens me when I hear that a film has bit the dust or, in this case, sunk with all hands. It appears that David Fincher’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea has gone to the depths of Davey Jones’s locker, and other related nautical puns.
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea has had difficulty getting underway for awhile now. First Brad Pitt jumped ship on the part of hero Ned Land, then Disney and Fincher seemed to disagree over who to offer the part. Channing Tatum, Chris Hemsworth, Matt Damon and even Daniel Craig were all mentioned as possible stars, but none seemed to move much past the rumor stage. The entire nation of Australia offered big incentives to shoot the film there, but to no avail. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is dead in the water.
Don’t think that Fincher is crying into his cornflakes over this, though. He’s got Gone Girl to hold his attention now. One of his other potential projects, the sequel to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, has scored a new writer in Andrew Kevin Walker who will rewrite the original script by Steve Zaillian. This follows an announcement from THR that Fincher’s chances of directing The Girl Who Played With Fire are virtually non-existent now. It sounds like Sony will want to go ahead with the film, with or without David Fincher.
I’m a bit sad about 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, and not just because I’m running out of puns. I would have been interested to see David Fincher direct a decidedly non-adult movie. As for The Girl Who Played With Fire? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with that. The first film was good, but pretty much a carbon copy of the original Swedish film. I’m not really certain what more could come of the sequel.
What do you think about the kraken getting 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea? How about the potential changes in The Girl Who Played With Fire? Let us know in the comments.