Shawn Levy has enjoyed a bit of a career jump in scope the last decade. Beginning his feature filmmaking with Big Fat Liar and Just Married, the director has recently helmed the successful Date Night, which featured an all-star comedy cast toplined by Steve Carell and Tina Fey, and is currently preparing his big DreamWorks blockbuster Real Steel, the robot boxing movie starring Hugh Jackman.
Picking up the project Paul Greengrass left, Levy was reported to be helming Fantastic Voyage for 20th Century Fox as his next film, with Jackman as the top contender for a lead. The project is now on somewhat shaky ground, THR reports. If this update to the 1966 sci-fi film doesn’t get an A-list star, Levy is likely to consider departing for another project. The star Levy has in mind is Will Smith, and they plan to have a meeting in the next few weeks to decide. If he says yes, Fox will reportedly move ahead, but if he declines than they could be looking for a new director.
I was hopeful that Will Smith would be circling more interesting projects after he was considered for Quentin Taratino‘s Django Unchained. That part ended up going to Jamie Foxx and Smith only has Men in Black III on the horizon, with a strong possibility M. Night Shyamalan‘s sci-fi epic One Thousand A.E. will follow.
The concept of “a team of scientists who are shrunk to atomic size and sent in a miniature submarine inside the body of a scientist to save his life” is fun, but with Levy possibly helming, it doesn’t garner much hope. James Cameron will continue to produce the pic under his Lightstorm Entertainment banner with Jon Landau. If Levy passes, he has a few projects like the Sleeping Beauty update Maleficent, as well as another Frankenstein film for Fox. Stay tuned to see what he decides and whether or not Fantastic Voyage goes under.
Would you want to see Will Smith lead Fantastic Voyage?