Coming off the success of Date Night and Real Steel, director Shawn Levy has a number of high-profile projects on his plate. Heâs been attached to a 3D remake of Fantastic Voyage for quite a while, with James Cameron onboard as producer, and heâs set to take on a new iteration of Frankenstein. While Levy became involved in both of these projects last year, we havenât heard much about their status as of late. Steve recently got the chance to sit down for an exclusive interview with Levy regarding the Best Visual Effects Oscar nomination for Real Steel, and the director talked quite a bit about what he has coming up. Yesterday we ran the portion of the conversation where Levy discussed the visual effects in Real Steel and the status of the Real Steel sequel, and today weâve got updates on a few more of his upcoming projects.Levy revealed that heâll be using motion-capture SimulCam for the monsters (plural) in Frankenstein, and he also talked about how theyâre tweaking the development status of the film in response to the competition project I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart. In addition, Levy talked about his ambitious practical effects approach to Fantastic Voyage, and revealed that he may actually film the comedy Interns with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson this summer. Hit the jump for much more. Regarding Frankenstein, Levy is planning to use motion-capture SimulCam (the same process he used on Real Steel) to film the monsters:
âIn the case of Frankenstein, my whole approach is based on a mo-cap SimulCam playback so that itâs not a dude with scars on his face. Itâs not just kind of latex and a costume; it would be a motion-capture performance of the monsterâI can give away maybe not too much by saying thereâs more than one in our versionâand then I would go to Europe, shoot the movie, do scenes with the real actors and I would be able to see the motion-captured monster in real time due to SimulCam, so yes that is our technological VFX paradigm for Frankenstein.â
Itâs an interesting approach, but it worked splendidly on Real Steel. As for when production might begin on Frankenstein, Levy admitted that the production start on another Frankenstein project has affected his iteration. He and Fox are making sure their Frankenstein is just right before it goes forward:
âFrankenstein is a great script. Everyone now knows, because people have seen Chronicle, that Max Landis is a hell of a goddamn writer and his script for Frankenstein is awesome. Hereâs what doesnât help: thereâs another movie that is already shooting called I, Frankenstein⦠Itâs a wildly different movie, but in the culture itâs another Frankenstein movie, itâs gonna come out next year. So if anything, that movie has kind of raised the bar for the studio and I to cast the living hell out of our Frankenstein.
Previous reports claimed that Fox was wary of the large budget for the project, but Levy says the concern has more to do with finding the right cast:
âThat script is ready to rock, I am ready to rock on that script, but as was reported itâs not a small budget. My Frankenstein, it ainât gonna get done well and the way I would insist on doing it for $35 million. So anytime youâre in like $70-$80 million for a movie, youâre really thinking about âWell who are these two guys?â in our case itâs Igor and Victor Frankenstein, âWhatâs the juicy pairing that makes that a good bet? That makes that financial bet smart and worth it?â because I am in the business of not squandering the money the studios give me to make movies⦠It was more like âOkay if thatâs the budget, weâve gotta make sure we cast it really, really rightâ and so thatâs the moment weâre in.â
As for Fantastic Voyage, Levy says theyâre currently making script tweaks, but heâs got a very specific vision for the finished film:
âWe all remember the original or we have a dim memory, but it was like miasmic views out a submarine window. It was like âOh globules of blood cells!â My whole thing with Jim Cameron whoâs the producer on that movie is like, letâs get out of the boat; letâs be tactile and hands-on. Part of the reason why the budget for my Fantastic Voyage is not small is that weâre talking about free dives in the body with real full-scale underwater sets, so itâs not just looking at the shit, maybe itâs climbing up the fucking spine. Itâs real, full-scale underwater 3D practical sets.â
This is nice to hear, as the initial instinct these days would be to create an entire CG environment and add your actors in accordingly. Practical underwater sets standing in for the human body wonât exactly be easy, but Iâm interested to see Levy take the challenge on.
Though Frankenstein and Fantastic Voyage have been on Levyâs radar for a while now, his next project might actually be a comedy that he only recently began working on. While on the set of Neighborhood Watch, which he's producing, Levy struck up a rapport with star Vince Vaughn who pitched him a comedy called Interns that would reteam Vaughn with Owen Wilson:
âVince and I spent a lot of time together and we kind of hit it off and he started telling me about this idea he had, which was him and Owen [Wilson] as interns at Google, and I was like âWell thatâs a juicy idea.â I donât have to work super hard to see the viability of that idea because itâs more than âshades of Old School, shades of Wedding Crashers,â really what itâs also about is a fucking world filled with pretty much anyone over 30 who already has the feeling that theyâre obsolete in their own time, that theyâre not even living in their own world anymore, that they play by their own rules but theyâre fucking analog guys in a digital moment.â
The pic would see Vaughn and Wilson as friends who get laid off and decide to become interns at a Google-like startup. They soon discover that theyâre completely lost in a sea of fresh-faced twentysomethings who know infinitely more about the digital world than they do. Itâs material thatâs definitely in Vaughn and Wilsonâs wheelhouse, and something Iâd love to see them hit out of the park. Levy revealed that if they come up with a great script, they could possibly shoot the film this summer:
âWe just had a series of conversations about it and so yes, we are now working onâit was [Vaughnâs] screenplay, weâre working on kind of a revision to it, but it feels like a big idea if we can get it right, and if we get it right maybe we make it as soon as this summer.â
As for the rating, Levy says thatâs a big question that they havenât quite settled yet, but heâs leaning towards R. If youâre gonna get Vaughn and Wilson back together, I think youâve gotta go R. Their comedic sensibilities compliment each other perfectly, and itâs the R-rated verbal flourishes that make their wordplay so much fun to watch. You can check out the portion of the interview where Levy talks about Frankenstein, Fantastic Voyage, and Interns below, followed by a time index/partial transcript of the conversation. Look for more from Steveâs interview with Levy in the coming days, and be sure to check out what he had to say about Real Steel and the Real Steel sequel if you missed it.
Here's a time index:
-
- 1:00 Update on Fantastic Voyage: âIn Fantastic Voyage, which is now still kind of undergoing some script tweaks, that movie we all remember the original or we have a dim memory, but it was like miasmic views out a submarine window. It was like âOh globules of blood cells!â My whole thing with Jim Cameron whoâs the producer on that movie is like, letâs get out of the boat; letâs be tactile and hands-on. Part of the reason why the budget for my Fantastic Voyage is not small is that weâre talking about free dives in the body with real full-scale underwater sets, so itâs not just looking at the shit, maybe itâs climbing up the fucking spine. Itâs real, full-scale underwater 3D practical sets, and that is the lesson of this guy [points to practical model of Noisy Boy from Real Steel], I would not do a VFX spectacle film without something tactile and textural and real⦠For sure [Real Steel] has shaped how I approach big films in the future.â
- 2:23 Talks about where theyâre at in the development phase of Frankenstein and how I, Frankenstein has affected their film: âFrankenstein is a great script. Everyone now knows, because people have seen Chronicle, that Max Landis is a hell of a goddamn writer and his script for Frankenstein is awesome. Hereâs what doesnât help: thereâs another movie that is already shooting called I, Frankenstein⦠Itâs a wildly different movie, but in the culture itâs another Frankenstein movie, itâs gonna come out next year. So if anything, that movie has kind of raised the bar for the studio and I to cast the living hell out of our Frankenstein. That script is ready to rock, I am ready to rock on that script, but as was reported itâs not a small budget. My Frankenstein, it ainât gonna get done well and the way I would insist on doing it for $35 million. So anytime youâre in like $70-$80 million for a movie, youâre really thinking about âWell who are these two guys?â in our case itâs Igor and Victor Frankenstein, âWhatâs the juicy pairing that makes that a good bet? That makes that financial bet smart and worth it?â because I am in the business of not squandering the money the studios give me to make movies. I havenât let them down yet, I donât wanna let them down. So the [initial] report was off in that it wasnât about âOh no we got the budget to Frankenstein and we donât wanna make itâ, it was more like âOkay if thatâs the budget, weâve gotta make sure we cast it really, really rightâ and so thatâs the moment weâre in.â
- 4:52 Talks about how Interns came to be and the status of the project: âVince and I spent a lot of time together and we kind of hit it off and he started telling me about this idea he had, which was him and Owen [Wilson] as interns at Google, and I was like âWell thatâs a juicy idea.â I donât have to work super hard to see the viability of that idea because itâs more than âshades of Old School, shades of Wedding Crashers,â really what itâs also about is a fucking world filled with pretty much anyone over 30 who already has the feeling that theyâre obsolete in their own time, that theyâre not even living in their own world anymore, that they play by their own rules but theyâre fucking analog guys in a digital moment. Honestly, Vince can talk, that dude is so damn articulate and compelling and heâs like âCome on Levy letâs fucking do it, weâll bust that shit out!â We just had a series of conversations about it and so yes, we are now working onâit was his screenplay, weâre working on kind of a revision to it, but it feels like a big idea if we can get it right, and if we get it right maybe we make it as soon as this summer. [R or PG-13] is a really big question, and while itâs not settled I am leaning towards R⦠If it were up to me today, as we sit here, Iâm leaning R.â