Director Paul Greengrass May Take a Trip on a FANTASTIC VOYAGE

Director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum, Green Zone) is in talks to helm his first sci-fi feature with the remake of the 1966 flick Fantastic Voyage.  After swearing off a fourth Bourne film, Heat Vision reports that the filmmaker is in discussions with 20^th Century Fox to direct the picture, which, as we reported last December, would be produced by James Cameron.

For those unfamiliar with the original film, it’s about a group of scientists who shrink themselves, and take a submarine inside a defecting Soviet scientist so they can remove a blood clot from his brain before it kills him.  Heat Vision says that the remake will stay close to the original minus the Cold War stuff and with snazzier effects and 3D.  To this part of this story, let us all say together as one voice: “Well, duh.”

Hit the jump for my two cents on Greengrass and Fantastic Voyage.

Greengrass’ films to date have remained firmly in reality, from the historical dramas of Bloody Sunday and United 93 to the political subtext in his action films, The Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum, and Green Zone.  However, he’s also known as a director who improvises the story of his movies on the set and in the editing room rather than from a script.  That may be easier to do when you’re running around with handheld cameras and shooting tons of footage, but for a CGI and 3D heavy movie like Fantastic Voyage, I wonder how Greengrass is going to have to change his style or if he’ll make the genre change for him.  Either way, he’s one of my favorite directors working today and I can’t wait to see what he does with Fantastic Voyage.