Over the past few days, weâve been bringing you excerpts from Steveâs wide-ranging interview with director Shawn Levy. Weâve already shared what he had to say about the Real Steel sequel, Frankenstein, Fantastic Voyage, and Interns, and just yesterday we shared updates on The Ten Best Days of My Life starring Amy Adams and Home Movies, a time supernatural family comedy.Today weâre bringing you what Levy had to say about Kong, an animated adaptation of the King Kong story being developed at Fox Animation, the visual effects-heavy family comedy Devil You Know (which was written by Parks and Recreation creator Michael Schur), and his adaptation of the popular Fancy Nancy series with Tina Fey. Hit the jump for more.One of the more interesting projects on Levy's development slate is a film called Kong. As Levy explains it, the pic is an animated re-imagining of King Kong:
âItâs an animated movie for Fox Animation and itâs a retelling of Kong as a family animated comedy⦠Itâs in script stage; so no itâs not yet at the point where youâre doing those animation tests. Itâs moving forward in that Fox Animation really likes it, I really like it, I think that when Fox Animation gets it right, almost always through Blue Sky, they get it really right. Iâve got a couple with them, and thatâs the one that I think Iâm the most bullish on.â
While it certainly sounds like Kong is a ways off, especially given how long it takes to actually animate a film of that scale, an animated take on King Kong is definitely an ambitious task. Iâm interested to see whoâs handling the script and what kind of revisions are being made to the story in order to make it family friendly. Nevertheless, Kong is one to keep an eye on.
Levy also spoke a bit about The Devil You Know, which is an adaptation of a childrenâs book:
âIt was a [Thomas] Lennon and [Ben] Garant script, they wrote Night at the Museum, [then] Mike Schur who runs and created Parks and Recreation rewrote it for us. We now have a new draft and I suppose itâs kind of a VFX comedy of the Night at the Museum ilk, I donât think that would be one for me to direct just because as you can now see, Iâm way over-extended. So thatâs one where I think Iâll start by trying to cast the female lead because I think itâs a really juicy moment for comedic female stars.â
The book by Nathan Hale tells the story of a family who trade in a pesky devil living in their home for a mysterious tiny lady that offers to take his place. The mysterious woman soon proves to be an even bigger problem than the previous pest, as she unpacks numerous boxes filled with demons of all shapes and sizes and begins to redecorate the house with alternate necessities, like a lake of fire and brimstone in the kitchen.
The female lead that Levy is talking about is presumably the mysterious Ms. Phisto, and the story sounds like itâd translate well into an entertaining family film. Iâm encouraged by Schurâs involvement as I think Parks and Rec is one of the best shows currently on TV, so Iâm anxious to hear more about the project. Given that Levy is taking himself out of the running as director due to over-extension, it sounds like the film might be fairly close to moving forward sometime soon.
Finally, Levy provided a brief update on his adaptation of the incredibly popular Fancy Nancy childrenâs book series:
âFancy Nancy was something thatâI mean I have four girls. I knew that the rights were available, it was something I talked to Tina Fey a bit aboutâwe did Date Night together and weâve remained friends. We were like, âWell that would be pretty cool to develop that together,â and so thatâs what weâre gonna do.â
The Fancy Nancy series is ridiculously adorable, and Feyâs sensibilities seem a perfect match for the adaptation. Thereâs a goofiness to Jane OâConnorâs books that I feel Fey can successfully translate to the big screen. You can watch the portion of Steveâs interview with Levy talking about Kong, The Devil You Know, and Fancy Nancy below, followed by a time index/full transcript. Be sure to watch for more updates from Levy all throughout this week.
Here's the time index/transcript:
- :06 âItâs called Kong and itâs an animated movie for Fox Animation and itâs a retelling of Kong as a family animated comedy⦠Itâs in script stage; so no itâs not yet at the point where youâre doing those animation tests. Itâs moving forward in that Fox Animation really likes it, I really like it, I think that when Fox Animation gets it right, almost always through Blue Sky, they get it really right. Iâve got a couple with them, and thatâs the one that I think Iâm the most bullish on.â
- :45 âDevil You Know was a short childrenâs picture book not unlike Night at the Museum was. It was a [Thomas] Lennon and [Ben] Garant script, they wrote Night at the Museum, [then] Mike Shore who runs and created Parks and Recreation rewrote it for us. We now have a new draft and I suppose itâs kind of a VFX comedy of the Night at the Museum ilk, I donât think that would be one for me to direct just because as you can now see, Iâm way over-extended. So thatâs one where I think Iâll start by trying to cast the female lead because I think itâs a really juicy moment for comedic female stars.â
- 1:27 âFancy Nancy was something thatâI mean I have four girls. I knew that the rights were available, it was something I talked to Tina Fey a bit aboutâwe did Date Night together and weâve remained friends. We were like, âWell that would be pretty cool to develop that together,â and so thatâs what weâre gonna do.â