There's two kinds of
Richard Linklater's - the one who pushes the boundaries of experimental cinema (Before Sunrise films, Waking Life, Dazed & Confused, A Scanner Darkly) and then there's the mainstream studio director (School of Rock, Bad News Bears, The Newton Boys, Me and Orson Welles) - and the world works best when the money gained from one, funds the other.
24 Frames are reporting that the former Indie darling has met with Warner Bros' to direct a remake of the 1964 family comedy
The Incredible Mr. Limpet that looks to film this year. A deal looks to be close and Linklater will make the film in exchange for more money to fund his
12 year directing prodigy with Ethan Hawke and presumably, his currently shelved
Liars (A-E). The bonkers original found Don Knotts as a guy who transformed himself into an animated fish to fight Nazi U-Boats. Seriously. It's a stupid, obscure and a silly product of a very odd time when the blending of live-action people with animated characters was enough to sell tickets, no matter what the subject matter. How you remake that, I don't know, but if Linklater manages to convince
Zach Galifianakis to make it (he was briefly attached last year) - then maybe that's a start.
Regardless of who stars, the WWII setting is said to have been dropped. There is of course a million other movies we'd rather see Linklater direct next but as long as he keeps up the one for the studio, one for him ratio - then we're happy. His next is a one for us - titled
Bernie - that stars Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Shirley MacClaine and carries the plot;
In small-town Texas, the local mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow, though when he kills her, he goes to great lengths to create the illusion that she's alive.
That movie should find a release this year as Linklater is now finished with post-production.