Shawn Levy's stepping up to the big time.
Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox have hired the former comedic helmer to direct
Fantastic Voyage 3D, the James Cameron produced, CGI heavy remake of the 1966 Richard Fleischer classic that was once being eyed by the likes of Paul Greengrass, Darren Aronofsky and Roland Emmerich. Levy is a name slightly lower on the Hollywood ladder than the aforementioned and his hiring is a huge sign of confidence from Fox, the same studio where he has just helmed the big budget robot boxing movie Real Steel with Hugh Jackman that opens in October. Levy was notoriously known for being one of the biggest studio hacks of the last decade, agreeing to direct every script that turned up at his door and therefore earning high paychecks for turning in two lame films per year with little effort or skill (he is responsible for The Pink Panther and Night at the Museum franchises). He has more recently bucked up his efforts with the actually quite fun Date Night (though I wonder whether that's down to the Tina Fey/Steve Carell chemistry) and his transition to more ambitious fare is commendable. The original Fantastic Voyage followed a group of scientists who are shrunk and then sent into a human body via a submarine to remove a blot clot from a colleague's brain in effort of national security, as he is invaluable to the CIA. The original was a fun product of its time, with a director and a set of actors (Donald Pleasance, Edmund O'Brien and Racquel Welch all starred!) who knew exactly how to play to the material. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgT7_qToWe0 Scripted by Alien vs. Predator writer
Shane Salerno and re-drafted most recently by Avatar scribe Laeta Kalogridis - the idea behind the remake is for the film to be 100% CGI once the submarine ventures inside the body. The deal for Levy comes on the back of another huge deal he struck with Fox last week, where he and Hugh Jackman are set to team together again on a tentpole
originated by a pitch from Lost writer Carlton Cuse. We would expect Fantastic Voyage to film first though as that one looks just about ready to go, and Jackman is currently readying to star as The Wolverine for Darren Aronofsky's.