Bekmambetov to Reimagine Melville's Moby Dick

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=49093

Source: Variety
September 23, 2008


Variety reports that Universal Pictures has decided to produce a big budget reimagiging of Herman Melville's classic literary tale Moby Dick with Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) to work from a screenplay being written by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage for "a high six figures."

The Variety story details some of the changes that are being planned for the new version of Melville's tale:

The writers 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.

"Our vision isn’t your grandfather’s ‘Moby Dick,’ " Cooper said. "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."

In the meantime, Bekmambetov is already developing a sequel to the summer sleeper hit starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie.

You can read the full story on Variety.

This sounds like a fun match of director and material.

 

[Galactus]

"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."

The cynical part of me read: "This is an opportunity to take a timeless classic and make another crappy, typical Hollywood-movie".

 

[Jackasscoley15]

The cynical part of me read: "This is an opportunity to take a timeless classic and make another crappy, typical Hollywood-movie".

Me too. Hey, it might look cool when the whale jumps 20 feet in the air in slow-motion, while the camera pans all the way around him right before he lands on a ship.

 

[That-Guy]

Well, I certainly hope that Bekmambetov creates as faithful an adaptation with this movie as he did with his last one.

 

[terry78]

I really don't know how far they can go. The whole point of the story is that Ahab is obsessed with this whale, and his crew are starting to see how nuts he is. Granted, they'd probably have to spice it up with some action sequences of giant squids and **** before they reach M.D., but whatever.

 

[Octoberist]

I hate it when Hollywood thinks it can 'outdo' the source material and its author.

And by the way, by making an 'extreme' version of Moby Dick is so stupid, that I want to remake "Little Woman" with laser cats.

 

[CashforStash]

I want more news on the Jaws reboot insted...

 

[Octoberist]

there's no 'Jaws' reboot, thank god.

 

[Cosmic]

Terrible news.

 

[Octoberist]

yes, this is dumbest idea for a movie. honestly it is.

 

[nite-owl]

I don't know about everyone else but I'm getting terrible visions of Will Smith attacking MD in slow motion.

 

[That-Guy]

LOL

I really don't understand how taking it out of first person narration can add SO much to this film. I've seen plenty of movies that had a narrator and still would trail off and show scenes that he or she wasn't involved in and it worked fine. And Ahab is supposed to be a bit deranged and obsessed... he's not Lucky Jack Aubrey. This film is going to SUCK.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

It's about time Moby Dick was rebooted and made more contemporary.

 

[Octoberist]

I promise you that Bekmambetov will get a backlash; I really think he's overrated. I saw all of his Night Watch movies...he's like a Russian Michael Bay.

 

[Cinemaman]

^^^

So true