As you undoubtedly know by now, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean installment has sailed without Gore Verbinski. The director has kept himself busy with Rango, but hasn’t seen any of his live action projects come to fruition.
But now Variety reports that Verbinski is in talks to direct a remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The classic 1947 film has been making the remake rounds for decades, with Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Chuck Russell taking the helm at various times. Now it may fall to Verbinski, as 20th Century Fox is determined to get it cast and shooting by next spring.
Walter Mitty is based on James Thurber’s short story. Mitty is a book editor who spends more time in heroic daydreams than in making his own life a success. The film took great liberties with the source material (much to the dismay of Thurber) and became a story where a daydreamer becomes a real life hero. There’s no talk of the Mitty remake returning to the source material, so I imagine the update will be filled with similar elements of zaniness, especially since Jim Carrey was once attached to star.
Verbinski is also still involved with the bigscreen adaptation of Bioshock. Though budgetary concerns caused him to lose the director’s chair to Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, he remains attached as producer. Rumors have swirled that Bioshock is dead in the water, but Verbinski told IGN that he’s still hoping to inject it with a plasmid or two.
“We’re working trying to make it. The problem with BioShock was: R-rated movie, underwater, horror. It’s a really expensive R-rated movie. So we’re trying to figure out a way working with Juan Carlos to get the budget down and still keep so it’s true to the core audience, you know? The thing is it has to be R, a hard R.” It also has to remain on a tight budget, which Verbinski admits remains a problem.
His faith suggests he’s the right guy to direct Walter Mitty. He just never stops daydreaming about watery adventures, even when real world problems threaten. You have to admire his ongoing optimism, even as we privately doubt we’ll ever get an R rated Bioshock.
