Fans of David Fincher have been itching to see a new feature film from the director since 2011’s release of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and we received a fairly promising update on his potential next project just yesterday.  The filmmaker has been developing a big-budget remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for quite some time with an eye towards making it his next film, and yesterday we learned that Disney is being wooed by a major tax credit to shoot the film in Australia this year.  Though Fincher was hoping to nab frequent collaborator Brad Pitt as his star, the actor had yet to officially sign on to the project.

Now a new report has surfaced with plenty of updates on all things Fincher, including word that he’s looking at a number of actors—including Channing Tatum—to possibly lead 20,000 Leagues given that Pitt has passed, that he may have to push production on the remake back to next year and film something else in the interim, and the possibility that he might not helm any of season two of the Netflix series House of Cards.  Hit the jump to read on.

This bounty of Fincher updates comes courtesy of the good folks over at The Playlist.  Apparently Brad Pitt has now officially passed on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (he recently said he had to figure out his schedule before committing to the film), but the pic is reportedly “essentially greenlit.”  With the budgetary situation set, Fincher has now run into a different sort of problem: all the actors he wants are not available to shoot until next year.  The report mentions Channing Tatum as one of the names that Fincher may or may not be looking at, which makes sense given that the filmmaker’s buddy Steven Soderbergh is quite fond of the guy.

Fincher is now said to be weighing his options.  He can either go ahead and film 20,000 Leagues this year with a different set of actors, or he can push it back to 2014 and try to shoot something else in the meantime.  He recently signed on to helm an adaptation of the bestselling thriller novel Gone Girl so that’s a possibility, though The Playlist notes that Gone Girl could be a heavy enough commitment that it bumps 20,000 entirely off his schedule, which would be a drag since he’s already spent so long developing the remake.

The sequel to Dragon Tattoo is another possibility, but Fincher has yet to officially commit to that project and Steven Zaillian’s screenplay is apparently in need of a heavy rewrite before production can move forward.  Personally, I’m hoping Fincher can round up an impressive cast for 20,000 Leagues and get that thing going sooner rather than later.  I’m eager to see what a large-scale 3D adventure film from the mind of Fincher looks like, and 20,000 Leagues seems to be a match made in heaven for the meticulous filmmaker.

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The report also has a note regarding Fincher’s stellar Netflix series House of Cards.  The show was picked up for two full seasons, and following the immense success of the recently-released first season, production on the next set of episodes is gearing up to begin in March.  However, it looks as though Fincher might not be returning to direct one of the new installments.  He helmed the first two episodes of season one, but apparently after seeing the other impressive group of filmmakers finish out the rest of the season without a drop in quality, he feels like the show is in good hands.

He hasn’t made a firm decision one way or the other just yet, and if 20,000 Leagues get pushed I imagine he’d be able to find the time to direct at least one episode, so I’m hoping he makes his way back to House of Cards for at least one more go-around.

With some pretty big decisions being weighed at the moment, hopefully we heard solid word on Fincher’s near-future plans soon.  For now, enjoy the excellent Justin Timblerake music video for “Suit & Tie” that he recently directed by clicking here.

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Image via Sony Pictures