That sound you just heard was Herman Melville rolling over in his grave. Wanted director Timur Bekmanbetov will direct a (you guessed it) reimagining of Moby Dick for Universal Pictures, and there are some absolutely fabulous lines from this Variety report that I must quote at length. Screenwriters Adam Cooper and Bill Collage “revere Melville’s original text, but their graphic novel-style version will change the structure. Gone is the first-person narration by the young seaman Ishmael, who observes how Ahab’s obsession with killing the great white whale overwhelms his good judgment as captain. This change will allow them to depict the whale’s decimation of other ships prior to its encounter with Ahab’s Pequod, and Ahab will be depicted more as a charismatic leader than a brooding obsessive.” Wow, sounds great so far! “This is an opportunity to take a timeless classic and capitalize on the advances in visual effects to tell what at its core is an action-adventure revenge story,” says Cooper. Please just tell me they’re keeping Queequeg.
Speaking of great American authors, the love story of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayme will come to the screen as The Beautiful and the Damned, to be directed by Nick Cassavettes. Although no actor has been announced for the male lead, The Hollywood Reporter has Keira Knightley in talks to play Zelda.
Shane Black will follow up 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Cold Warrior. According to Variety, the story “revolves around a spy from the Cold War era who comes out of retirement to team with a younger agent from the new school to confront a domestic terrorism threat orchestrated by Russia.” Time to lure Sean Connery out of retirement?
Related:
Keira Knightley's Last Night
Sean Connery's Life an Open Book