Following the back-to-back productions of The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, director David Fincher has been taking his time in settling on his next project.  He’s been developing a remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Disney for years, and the project finally started to gain traction earlier this year with Fincher courting Brad Pitt as his star.  However, Pitt ultimately passed on the role in favor of David Ayer’s WWII film Fury, leaving Fincher’s 20,000 Leagues without a star or a greenlight.

Despite these two crucial facts, we learned last month that Australia had agreed to an enormous tax incentive ($22.5 million) for Fincher to shoot 20,000 Leagues down under, making the remake that much more attractive for Disney.  Now word comes that since the film still doesn’t have a lead actor, potential production has been pushed to 2014.  Hit the jump for more.

The Sydney Morning Harold (via The Film Stage) reports that Disney has postponed production on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to 2014, primarily due to the fact that a cast has yet to be set.  The outlet claims that filming was initially poised to get underway next month, but that claim seems a little dubious since A.) 20,000 Leagues still doesn’t have a greenlight, and B.) the film didn’t have a single cast member.

We actually first learned in February that production might be pushed back to 2014, given that all of the actors Fincher wanted for 20,000 Leagues would not be available until next year.  One such actor he is said to be considering is Channing Tatum, so it’s entirely possible that Fincher is simply waiting until he can get his dream cast together before he moves forward on this massive endeavor.  In the meantime, he recently attached himself to direct the Gillian Flynn adaptation Gone Girl, so he could film that drama in the interim before moving on to the larger 20,000 Leagues next year.

This is essentially what he did with The Social Network and Dragon Tattoo, as Fincher was knee-deep in production on the latter while making the awards season rounds on the former.  Whatever he ends up making as his next film, I sincerely hope Fincher gets back behind the camera soon.