What You Can Expect From Director David Fincher's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Excerpt from the cinemablend interview with Scott Z. Burns

Burns also confirmed that the scale of the project is "really big," but don't expect the movie to be the exact same story from Verne's novel. Saying that there's "very little" that goes directly from the page to the screen, he said that his job "isn’t to turn a book into a movie, it’s to be inspired by the book and then go write a movie." The inspiration that Burns took largely come from the three main characters: Captain Nemo, French marine biologist Professor Pierre Aronnax, and master harpoonist Ned Land. "David and I had a really cool idea for the relationship between Nemo, and Aronnax and Land," Burns said. "That’s really what we kind of got into. But I think it’s very, very true to the spirit of the book."

Excerpt from the slashfilm interview with David Fincher

About his possible interest in doing a motion-capture or performance-capture film. The director said,

I would love to to something like that. I would love to do something probably more like Avatar than Tintin. I like the idea of something that is a little more… complicated. (chuckles) I love the idea of a ‘cartoon’, but I would like it to be sort of very, very dense. And, in fact, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will be probably 70% CG. [...] I love motion capture and think it’s only in its infancy, and eventually there won’t be a difference between motion capture and acting. because that’s all motion capture is, is being able to capture acting.

David Fincher hasn't dipped his toes into this type of genre since the lackluster Alien 3. Although I strongly point out that the story was a product of the producers and he still showed glimpse of greatest even if the film was a letdown in the franchise.

Since that project he made a splash with the delightful Panic Room, and wow'ed us with the instant classic, Fight Club. Since those achievements he has continued to blossom, and now appears ready to take on his first big budget tent pole.

If anyone else was tossing away much of the source material like Fincher is with Verne, I'd panic, but with David in charge I feel very comfortable. Having Scott Z. Burns come in doesn't hurt either. He wrote the screenplay for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and just wrapped up work on Steven Soderbergh's Contagion.


Jules Verne Plot

As the story begins in 1866, a mysterious sea monster, theorized by some to be a giant narwhal, is sighted by ships of several nations; an ocean liner is also damaged by the creature. The United States government finally assembles an expedition in New York City to track down and destroy the menace. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a noted French marine biologist and narrator of the story, who happens to be in New York at the time and is a recognized expert in his field, is issued a last-minute invitation to join the expedition, and he accepts. Canadian master harpoonist Ned Land and Aronnax's faithful assistant Conseil are also brought on board.

The expedition sets sail from Brooklyn aboard a naval ship called the Abraham Lincoln, which travels down around the tip of South America and into the Pacific Ocean. After much fruitless searching, the monster is found, and the ship charges into battle. During the fight, the ship's steering is damaged, and the three protagonists are thrown overboard. They find themselves stranded on the "hide" of the creature, only to discover to their surprise that it is a large metal construct. They are quickly captured and brought inside the vessel, where they meet its enigmatic creator and commander, Captain Nemo.

The rest of the story follows the adventures of the protagonists aboard the submarine, the Nautilus, which was built in secrecy and now roams the seas free of any land-based government.- courtesy of wikipedia