Paul Greengrass is reportedly circling a 3D adaptation of “Fantastic Voyage” with James Cameron on board as a producer.
The project is a remake of Richard Fleischer’s 1966 film of the same name later novelized by iconic sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov. Both were set in the Cold War and centered on a professor who masters the concept of miniaturizing matter however, on route to the West, he is subject to an assassination attempt which leaves him comatose. A team of medical staff are then miniaturized in a submarine and sent into his body in an effort to save his life.
While Cameron was originally linked to the remake in a directorial role, he has now looks to handed it off to Greengrass — perhaps in a move akin to Steven Soderbergh’s making “Solaris” under the aegis of the “Avatar” filmmaker — and will now only produce and presumably shepherd Greengrass. A modernized setting is also being discussed for the 3D action-adventurer which will be a new direction for Greengrass whose directing forays have mainly focused on much more reality-based, far less effects-driven films (“Green Zone,” “United 93,” the ‘Bourne’ films).
In a way though, we’re hoping he’ll be able to throw in a 3D shaky-cam journey through the professor’s intestines for old times sake. Here’s the trailer to the original Fleischer film, which starred the great Donald Pleasence and Raquel Welch, just for the hell of it. We’re sure they’ll be astronomically different.
It’s interesting to read the Hollywood Reporter‘s take on this. They note that “Green Zone” was a commercial bomb and now Greengrass is moving onto something much more commercially viable. A career rehabilitation move? Not a bad posit.