Shawn Levy is clearly winning some fans as he tinkers with the editing and effects of robo-boxing drama Real Steel – Fox and producer James Cameron have hired him to handle the remake of 1966 sci-fi adventure Fantastic Voyage.
The 1966 film about a team and their sub miniaturised and injected into an ailing diplomat’s body so they can tackle a blood clot in his brain is one that Hollywood has been trying to remake for a while now. Roland Emmerich was attached for a period, but then dropped out.
More recently, 20th Century fox convinced James Cameron to jump aboard as executive producer and the search began for a director to take on the job. Paul Greengrass considered it, but ultimately passed and since then, according to Deadline, a veritable who’s who of names has strolled the halls at the studio for meetings with Cameron, including Darren Aronofsky, Timur Bekmambetov, Jonathan Mostow and Louis Leterrier.
But Levy has strong ties to Fox, having made most of his films at the studio. And while he doesn’t exactly win over the critics, he’s certainly struck gold a time or two at the box office.
He’ll need a crash course in 3D before he gets to work on the film, which boasts a script written by Shane Salerno and polished up by Cameron collaborator Laeta Kalogridis.
And it remains to be seen whether he’ll make it his next job- he always has several films in various stages of development at his 21 Laps company and recently signed on to reunite with Steel’s Hugh Jackman for an untitled action adventure movie. Bet you Fox and Cameron will aim to convince him to go on the Voyage next – assuming everything falls into place.