Even though his planned adaptation of The Beatles‘ “Yellow Submarine” is now dead, director Robert Zemeckis doesn’t seem to be short on options. It was just over a week ago that he was linked to the drama “Flight” with Denzel Washington loosely attached, now another project is crossing his desk.
Vulture is reporting that Zemeckis is eyeing “Replay” a project Ben Affleck was briefly linked to direct last fall (he met with the producers, gave them notes on the script but that’s about as far as it got). An adaptation of Ken Grimwood‘s novel, written by Jason Smilovic (”My Own Worst Enemy,” “Kidnapped”) the tale revolves around “a 43-year old radio journalist who dies, wakes up in his 18-year old body, and gets to relive his life over and over. With his original memory intact, he takes the opportunity to travel down roads he passed up the first time around.” The film is a bit a thriller as the protagonist learns that while he can’t prevent his own death, he can save the life of his daughter.
At any rate, Zemeckis is said to be in “serious talks” with Warner Bros. to direct the film which, if everything goes according to plan, will lens before he moves on to “Flight” which doesn’t yet have a firm commitment from Washington. And in a bit of trivia, in “Replay,” Steven Spielberg pops up as a character in the story leading the protagonist to his soulmate. Aww. Spielberg and Zemeckis are old pals (the former produced the “Back To The Future” movies) so it would be both cool and hella dorky if he popped up in a cameo.