David Fincher's '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' Prepares To Set Sail

Director David Fincher (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Se7en) has always been known best for his dark, hard R dramas and crime thrillers. So his next project may come as a bit of a shock to those who haven't been following it: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: Captain Nemo.  I'm not sure why we need the subtitle.  The project has been in the crock pot for years now, with significant question as to whether or not it would get made.  Now, it seems that the wind has picked up.

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Will Fincher & Pitt Plunge '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'?

Whenever David Fincher and Brad Pitt have teamed up for a movie the end result was a masterpiece.  Don't believe me?  Then maybe Se7en, Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will help jog your memory.  The ambitious Fincher has long been attached to direct the next film adaptation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and now that he's become more serious about the project, he wants Pitt as his leading man again.

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Writer Scott Z. Burns On 'U.N.C.L.E.' and '20,000 Leagues'

With recent news that George Clooney would not be starring in Steven Soderbergh's The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the film would be based on the 1960s television show by the same name, we're seeing one of the last few films to come from the director before he switches his focus to painting. Even Soderbergh confirmed that: “I’m interested in exploring another art form while I have the time and ability to do so… I’ll be the first person to say if I can’t be any good at it and run out of money I’ll be back making another Ocean’s movie.” Thankfully writer Scott Z. Burns has been working with Soderbergh on U.N.C.L.E. and the soon to be released Contagion, as well as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo with David Fincher, has been speaking about the films and his collaborations.

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From 'Social Network' to '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' David Fincher Confirmed to Direct

In May, Disney confirmed that Jule's Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has been placed on hold due to the director McG, moving off of the project.  Since that time, Disney has always been interested in David Fincher helming the project, but he has resisted until today.  

Jon Favreau confirms that Fincher is officially on board to direct 20,000 Leagues and signed off on a script by Scott Burns who also wrote Bourne Ultimatum.  The project will be a massive undertaking for Disney who is ready to spend over $150 million to make it one of the most visually impressive films Disney has ever released.

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Wait...60,000 'Leagues Under the Sea'?

Why this, why now? Even though Disney is remaking its 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with reports bleeding out this weekend that David Fincher will direct, it's not the studio's property. Because it was written and published before the 1920s, it's fair game according to copyright law, and anyone who wants to make 20,000 Leagues (or Shakespeare or The Wizard of Oz or even most of Sherlock Holmes' catalog) is free to do it. It's public domain.

But why are the rival productions of the same story right now? It happened with Sherlock, it's happening with Three Musketeers, but I'm still not convinced the Sacha Baron Cohen-Will Ferrell comedy collaboration will ever happen, and since Saturday - Saturday, mind you - two other covers of 20,000 Leagues have bubbled to the surface, and they're not small potatoes, either. Dark Horizons has culled information from a couple sources, and it appears David Fincher will face competition from Sam Raimi, who's on the hook to produce a version of the story written by Craig Titley that's supposed to be very faithful to the source material, as well as a futuristic take on the subject produced by Tony and Ridley Scott over at Fox, with Timur Bekmambetov looking to direct.

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