McG wanted Will Smith but settles for The Rock in 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
Initially McG spoke about his desire to cast Will Smith as Captain Nemo in his remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Disney but according to Production Weekly, he has settled for one of the Mouse's most profitable lead actors, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson after Smith presumably turned him down. Seems like a logical choice in truth, The Rock will be cheaper than Smith, he is a proven bankable star for them with The Game Plan and Race to Witch Mountain and is more likely to star in any potential sequels. 
McG hopes to make the movie later this year in Australia, possibly as his next project as he attempts to become the new Brett Ratner after somehow getting his foot into the door of a high profile studio gig. To be fair to McG, I've been nothing but astonished and amazed at how good he has made Terminator Salvation look to date and I'm fairly optimistic he has delivered something awesome. For 20,000 Leagues, Justin Marks (Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li) has been re-writing Bill Marsillis (Deja Vu) original draft which told the origin story of Captain Nemo and his early adventures on his ship the Nautilus. Love the original Disney's flick from the 50's with James Mason and Kirk Douglas but I'm predicting a Journey to the Center of the Earth esque digital 3-D esque picture disaster here, unfortunately. Although I haven't read any word on them using digital 3-D, I just can't imagine them not wanting to toy with the technology here and well after seeing another Jules Verne classic destroyed by Hollywood, it just seems inevitable.