Well, it looks like Indian submariners are the next hot trend in Hollywood. Adaptations of Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” have been mooted for years now, with Sam Worthington coming close to starring for McG in a version for Disney last year, leading an entire globe to sigh with relief when it came to naught.
But over the weekend, news broke of not one, but two rival versions of the undersea adventure. We’ve already reported on Disney’s revival of the project, which will be written by Scott Z. Burns (“The Informant!”) and directed by David Fincher, but a rival version emerged at Fox just a day later. The Hollywood Reporter says that Ridley and Tony Scott will produce through their Scott Free banner, with a script from in-demand writer Travis Beacham (“Clash of the Titans,” Disney’s upcoming “The Black Hole” remake).
Hyperactive Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov is in talks to direct, although there’s no official deal yet, and this version is believed to move the plot to the future, rather than the more faithful period take that Fincher is looking at. Although we enjoyed Beacham’s breakthrough script “Killing on Carnival Row,” which Neil Jordan and Guillermo Del Toro were circling at one stage, we’d be lying if we said we’d pick this version over the Fincher/Burns one. With Fincher set to direct “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” before he goes under the sea, it’s possible that the rival may kill it before it even gets underway. Or it could turn out to be “Capote” vs. “Infamous” all over again. But with giant squid.