It’s only about six weeks since “Bourne” director Paul Greengrass was thought to have been circling a James Cameron-produced 3D remake of the sci-fi classic “Fantastic Voyage,” about a group of scientists who are miniaturized and sent into a human body in a submarine. Producer Jon Landau described the process as being like a courtship, saying that “When you hire a director on a movie, it’s like a marriage. I think Paul and we want to date a little bit before we put on the ring.”
Well, it seems like the dating didn’t go so well, as Deadline have revealed that Greengrass has bailed on the project (which he always seemed like an odd fit for), in favor of a new version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” that’s currently in development at Warner Bros, under the stewardship of “Sherlock Holmes” producer Lionel Wigram. That project was revealed last month by Pajiba who reported that Greengrass had been circling, but had picked “Fantastic Voyage” instead.
For whatever reasons, things have now changed, and Cameron and Landau are now in search of another big-name director to take charge. They’ve shown decent taste in collaborators so far, but if anyone mentions the name ‘Louis Letterier,’ we’ll miniaturize ourselves and kick Cameron in the prostate. Meanwhile, Greengrass isn’t locked into “Treasure Island” yet, as he and Wigram are choosing screenwriters at the moment. After “Green Zone” tanked this year, however, the director needs a hit, so we imagine he’ll sign on to something big shortly.
