While David Fincher's Netflix series, "House of Cards," proved to be a big winner today with nine Emmy nominations, including a historic one for Outstanding Drama Series, it's been far too long since we've had an actual movie from the "Social Network" and "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" director. Thankfully, we'll get one soon enough in the form of his adaptation of literary sensation "Gone Girl," but he's had the plug pulled on one of his other projects -- and he may not get the opportunity to helm the sequel to "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."
According to Indiewire's The Playlist, Fincher's long-planned 3D remake of Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," from a script by "Contagion" screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, is sleeping with the fishes -- despite an April report that the Australian government was luring the production down under with enticing tax incentives.
The project has actually been dead for some time, the site reports, in part because of casting difficulties, which started when Brad Pitt passed. The proposed 140-day shoot was too much for most of the actors Fincher and Disney wanted (including Daniel Craig and Matt Damon), and when Fincher finally settled on Channing Tatum, the studio balked and suggested Chris Hemsworth, one of their golden boys thanks to the "Thor" movies and "The Avengers," instead. With that, Fincher decided to depart the project, thus killing our hopes of ever seeing a Civil War-set Disney "Avengers"-style movie that would team up John Carter, Tonto, and Captain Nemo.
Still on the table, however, is the sequel to "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl Who Played With Fire." Fincher recently brought on his "Seven" confederate Andrew Kevin Walker -- who also provided uncredited rewrites on Fincher's "Panic Room" and "Fight Club" and was working on the "20,000 Leagues" script when that project got shuttered -- to quietly do a rewrite of Steve Zaillian's first draft of the screenplay. However, certain time and budget constraints could put the kibosh on Fincher's plans to direct.
Fincher is aiming to shoot "Gone Girl" this fall so that star Ben Affleck can resume work on his next directorial project, an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's sprawling historical mystery "Live By Night," at the beginning of 2014. "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" star Daniel Craig is also a busy man, with his Broadway show "Betrayal" (in which he'll act opposite wife Rachel Weisz) running from October 1 to January 5, 2014, and "Bond 24" likely consuming the bulk of his 2014. All of that amounts to a potentially too-small directorial window for Fincher, who is known for his obsessive shooting style.
Over on the financial front, Indiewire's Thompson on Hollywood claims Sony wants to avoid a ballooning budget, something that could happen under Fincher's "headstrong" direction. But even if the studio ends up going with another director so as to avoid delaying the sequel until 2015, Fincher is guaranteed a payday under his pay or play deal.
We want as much David Fincher as we can get, so our fingers are crossed that "The Girl Who Played With Fire" moves forward -- against all odds -- under his deft hand.
[via Indiewire, Indiewire]
