Wanted Director to Take On Moby Dick
Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov is the man behind the internationally acclaimed movies Night Watch and Day Watch, in addition to this summer’s smash hit comic book adaptation Wanted. We heard earlier in the year that a Wanted sequel was in development, and Bekmambetov seemed like the obvious choice to direct. However, he just added another project to his plate, and it’s not one you might expect.
According to Variety, Bekmambetov has signed on to direct a remake of Moby Dick, the classic tale of man versus whale. The last person to play Captain Ahab on screen was Orson Welles in 1999, the last movie he ever directed. However, the most well-known adaptation of the book is probably John Huston’s 1956 film starring Gregory Peck. Writer Adam Cooper promises that this “isn’t your grandfather’s Moby Dick”, and that the movie will “capitalize on the advances in visual effects to tell what at its core is an action-adventure revenge story”. Bekmambetov is expected to apply his unique visual style to this film. So basically, Jaws meets Wanted?! This sounds too crazy to work, but that’s exactly why I’m interested in it. The weirder thing is the fact that screenwriters Adam Cooper and Bill Collage are the same guys who wrote the Justin Long/Jonah Hill comedy Accepted. Ahem.
Comments (2)
With all the emphasis on the effects, the film’s success is really going to come down to who they cast as Ahab and how faithful they are to the novel. Use CGI to make the giant white whale as fearsome and menacing as you want, but without a believable actor playing the obsessive, megalomaniacal Ahab there’s really no point. At the very least, the film might convince people to pick up one of my favorite books.
Posted by AdamM on September 23rd, 2008Orson Welles died in 1985 so he wasn’t directing anything in 1999! Maybe you’re thinking of the Patrick Stewart televised version.
Posted by EliseP on October 24th, 2009Leave a Reply