Se7en was a fortuitous film for both director David Fincher and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker. It got Fincher out of bad movie jail after Alien 3, and launched Walker’s career as a screenwriter who specializes in dark and cynical tales.
It was a perfect match for the script, which made it to the screen pretty much intact, and many have been hoping Fincher and Walker would work together again. Now apparently they will on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
There’s been talk of a remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for quite some time, and granted, this isn’t the kind of project you’d associate either Fincher or Walker with.
Already jokes have been posted on Deadline about what kind of darkness Walker could bring to the story (“what’s in the boat?!”), but not everything Walker’s written has been black and dreary.
He was the first screenwriter on X-Men, and his version was pretty straight forward, as was his script for The Silver Surfer, which will probably never get made, but it was a terrific big screen adaptation of the character.
Previously, there were reports that Fincher and Walker would work together again on The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, the Max Ehrlich novel about a college professor who’s convinced he’s lived before that was turned into a film in 1975.
It was one of many projects Fincher has flirted with over the years, and there were also reports they would work together again on the big screen adaptation of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which would have been a perfect match-up. (Johnny Depp is now going to be reviving Kolchak on the big screen).
Again, both Fincher and Walker can do dark very well, but this may not be a dark movie, which could definitely throw audiences for a loop.
Then again, many who were expecting another serial killer movie with Fincher’s Zodiac were surprised when he made one of the best movies about journalism, so I hope to expect the unexpected with 20,000 Leagues.
