Director Guillermo del Toro is in talks with Twentieth Century Fox to take on their remake of the 1966 science-fiction classic Fantastic Voyage. The director had been looking for a project ever since his planned Pacific Rim sequel was placed back in development by Legendary Pictures, where it is suspected of staying for some time, if not permanently.
Fantastic Voyage focuses on a group of scientists who are shrunk down to microscopic size and injected into a foreign scientist’s body to perform a delicate, life-saving option. The original starred Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O’Brien and Donald Pleasence. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning Oscar trophies for Best Special Visual Effects and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration in a Color Film.
The Hollywood Reporter is stating del Toro is currently in negotiations with the studio and if a deal is reached, the project will reunite him with his Blade 2 scripter David Goyer and producer James Cameron with whom del Toro had tried unsuccessfully to mount an adaption of H. P. Lovecraft’s classic horror novel At The Mountains Of Madness. Goyer has written the treatment for the film which he is fleshing out into a full script with screenwriter Justin Rhodes.
This is the first solid news we have heard on the project in almost a year and a half. At that time, Goyer was just coming on board to provide the story treatment. Previously, Shawn Levy had been attached to direct the film, replacing the previously attached Paul Greengrass in 2011. Yes, this has been in development at Fox for some time. Is the addition of del Toro the needed boost that Fantastic Voyage needs to get into production?
