Warner Bros. Talking To Greengrass And Other Directors For Sea Serpent Pic ‘Here There Be Monsters’
Paul Greengrass has had a bit of a rough ride in his post-‘Bourne‘ plans to get a new movie off the ground. Both his gestating Jimi Hendrix and Martin Luther King Jr. biopics were met with resistance from their respective estates, the former for not including the family in the early stages of the development and the latter for the somewhat controversial elements of the screenplay. And we’ve debated about the Playlist water cooler whether or not a studio will come along and save “Memphis,” but it looks like that without the support of the MLK estate, that film is dead in the water and Greengrass has now started looking at new projects.
Deadline reports that Greengrass is considering a few projects and at the top of the pack is an adaptation of John D. MacDonald‘s “The Deep Blue Good-By,” the first mystery novel in a series which is hoped to develop franchise potential over at Fox. “Travis McGee,” as it is being called, centers on the titular Florida-based “salvage consultant,” a beach bum who specializes in recovering client’s otherwise forever lost property in return for half the property’s value as a fee — his first case finds him reluctantly in search of a treasure hidden by a soldier after World War II. The novel was first published in 1964 with the counterculture at the time evidently a key element to the tale. McGee’s own growth along with the society’s against the cultural backdrop is explored all the way through to the Reagan era of the ’80’s in MacDonald’s 21 book series.
The project has been in the works for a while now. Last spring Leonardo DiCaprio and Oliver Stone were going to team on it but the former is shooting “J. Edgar” and is gearing up for “The Great Gatsby” while the latter has “Savages” ready to go this summer. DiCaprio, who is producing the picture, apparently still intends to star and his schedule could be a determining factor. But that’s not all Greengrass is looking at.
Warner Bros. has approached him and a handful of directors with the awkwardly titled “Here There Be Monsters,” a film about a disgraced British Naval officer who is hired by a rich shipping magnate to investigate the disappearance of his merchant ships in the North Atlantic, only to discover a giant sea serpent is the culprit. You can do better than that Greengrass. The director was also eyeing one of the many Julian Assange movies in the works earlier this year.
So, lots of options for the director but we hope the pieces finally come together on something soon, though we’re bummed that “Memphis” likely won’t be getting it’s due in front of cameras anytime soon.