The “f**king cool” movie remake David Fincher almost made
After the ‘Movie Brats’ took over Hollywood in the late 20th century, a small group of American filmmakers took over the baton in the 1990s, with Quentin Tarantino, Jonathan Demme and David Fincher each elevating the form for the 21st century. Starting off poorly with a rubbish addition to the Alien franchise, Fincher would rise to become one of the finest directors of his era, releasing Seven, The Game and Fight Club throughout the remainder of the decade.
Ever since his rise to fame, Fincher has been responsible for creating some of the greatest movies of contemporary cinema, including 2007’s Zodiac, 2010’s The Social Network, and 2014’s Gone Girl. A modern filmmaker proficient in contemporary storytelling methods, Fincher has also worked extensively on the small screen, directing a number of compelling tales, including Mindhunter and House of Cards.
Still, despite having made countless movies, TV shows and music videos over the years, Fincher has a bounty of unrealised projects that he was never able to get off the ground. As well as being the original director of such films as Catch Me if You Can, Spider-Man and Mission: Impossible III before he was replaced by Steven Spielberg, Sam Raimi and J.J. Abrams, respectively, there was also one “fucking cool” movie Fincher missed out on.
When questioned in a conversation with Playboy about his proposed remake of 1954’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the director responded with excitement: “Dude, it was fucking cool. It was smart and crazy entertaining, with the Nautilus crew fighting every kind of gigantic Ray Harryhausen thing. But it also had this riptide to it”.
Continuing, he enthusiastically exclaims: “We were doing Osama bin Nemo, a Middle Eastern prince from a wealthy family who has decided that white imperialism is evil and should be resisted. The notion was to put kids in a place where they’d say, ‘I agree with everything he espouses. I take issue with his means—or his ends.’ I really wanted to do it, but in the end, I didn’t have the stomach lining for it”.
The original 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was directed by Richard Fleischer and follows the story of a ship sent to investigate a series of mysterious marine wreckages, only to encounter a submarine named the Nautilus. A classic movie of the 1950s, the original film was based on the novel by French writer Jules Verne and starred Kirk Douglas, James Mason and Peter Lorre.
In the same interview, the magazine made reference to a number of other unrealised projects once helmed by Fincher, including a film about a master chef that was going to feature the John Wick star, Keanu Reeves. This film was eventually directed by John Wells and was released as Burnt, a movie of a similar subject matter that starred Bradley Cooper, Uma Thurman and Sienna Miller.
Take a look at the original trailer for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea below.
