Hard as it may be to believe, a few years ago, Disney was developing a movie withDavid Fincher—a large-scale adventure movie, in fact. Fincher was attached to direct a new iteration of20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which he envisioned as an epic, 3D retelling of the classicJules Vernestory,one described as a “reinvention”with an entirely different look at Captain Nemo. Unfortunately, Fincher and Disney disagreed on casting (Fincher wantedChanning Tatum, Disney wantedChris Hemsworth), and the filmmaker ultimately parted ways with the project.
But now Disney has resurrected the idea of reinvisioning20,000 Leaguesin the form ofCaptain Nemo, with Deadline reporting thatThe WolverinedirectorJames Mangoldhas signed on to take the helm. Fincher’s iteration had drafts byScott Z. Burns(Contagion) andAndrew Kevin Walker(Se7en), but the latest draft ofCaptain NemohasSebastian Gutierrez(The Eye) working on the script. The project is described as an origin story for the character as he creates his Nautilus.
Mangold is next directingHugh Jackman’sfinal go-around as Wolverine, which is set to begin production this year, but one imagines he’ll turn his attention toCaptain Nemoonce that’s done. Disney has some competition in the form ofX-Men: ApocalypsedirectorBryan Singer’sown take on20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which he’s making for Fox with filming getting underway later this year.
Mangold is a solid filmmaker with films likeKnight and Dayand3:10 to Yumaunder his belt, so it’ll be interesting to see him tackle a high seas adventure. He was previously set to directChristian BaleinThe Deep Blue Good-Byearly last year, but Bale injured his leg and that projectwas postponed indefinitely. Still, it’s hard not to be disappointed we’ll never get to see Fincher’s iteration of the20,000 Leaguesstory, which he described thusly:
“Dude, it was fucking cool. It was smart and crazy entertaining, with the Nautilus crew fighting every kind of giganticRay Harryhausenthing. But it also had this riptide to it. We were doing Osama bin Nemo, a Middle Eastern prince from a wealthy family who has decided that white imperialism is evil and should be resisted. The notion was to put kids in a place where they’d say, ‘I agree with everything he espouses. I take issue with his means—or his ends.’”
Ultimately, Fincher said Disneywasn’t crazy about tackling a non-hero’s journey on a budget of $200 millionwithout a star that could carry the film internationally. So while I’m curious to see Mangold’s version of the story, we can probably expect something a bit more traditional.
