Who would you want to direct an action-packed journey around the human body? While I’m tempted to say David Cronenberg, the answer “James Cameron” is probably the more solid proposition and just as well, as his remake of 1966’s FANTASTIC VOYAGE has reportedly shifted a little further along the digestive tract with the news that David S. Goyer is on treatment duty.
The story concerns a team of scientists who are miniaturized onto a tiny submarine and despatched into the body of a defected Russian scientist to ensure his survival and obtain his secrets. Richard Fleischer’s original film featured the eclectic casting of Raquel Welch (ONE MILLION YEARS BC) and Donald Pleasence (HALLOWEEN) and had the distinction of being novelized by sci-fi master Isaac Asimov (I, ROBOT). An interesting parallel to Cameron, who hired respected author Orson Scott Card (ENDER’S GAME) to write up THE ABYSS back in 1989.
Goyer has been associated with some of the most high profile comic book adaptations of the past decade, from THE DARK KNIGHT to MAN OF STEEL and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s forthcoming SANDMAN, as well as writing genre curios like DARK CITY. He’s on shakier ground as a director with entries such as BLADE: TRINITY, but his track record as a screenwriter is healthier than a marathon runner on a celery binge, and combining him with Cameron should make an engaging mix.
As for how Cameron will reimagine the source material, it’s safe to assume this will be a full-blown inter-body experience. The Cold War elements of the original will probably be dropped but on the other hand we could be seeing the world’s first colon on IMAX! The film is being produced by Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment, though no release date has been scheduled. Anyone who’s read his “scriptment” of STRANGE DAYS will know that he doesn’t mess about when it comes to the planning of a project, so it could be some time before we see this particular voyage hit our screens.
Source: THR
