James Cameron has been talking about doing a FANTASTIC VOYAGE remake for years, and he hired David Goyer to write the film just over a year and a half ago. It looks like Cameron will be producing as another beloved genre vet helms the project: Guiilermo Del Toro.
For now, GDT is just in talks to direct the Fox/Lightstorm production, but with PACIFIC RIM 2 out of the way after a long development process, he’s got nothing on his plate, and could easily jump on over to this already-in-the-works gig (though he is expected to play a big part in the development, which would be key to making it his own).
GDT has considerable experience with body horror, portraying horrifying mutations in stuff like MIMIC, CRONOS, and BLADE II, not to mention the self-mutilating self-disgust of HELLBOY and Liz. PACIFIC RIM showed that he’s great at creating memorable, unique sci-fi environments, and comprehensible, rip-roaring set-pieces. One thing he does that the original didn’t do so well (aside from maybe with the Donald Pleasance character) is depict conflicted characters with needs and desires (beyond just, you know, surviving the trip inside the human body), so I’d imagine that’ll be something that’ll be an improvement on the 1966 film.
GDT and Cameron were going to work together on IN THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, and though this is considerably less sexy and out-there, it still gives the two an opportunity to get their genre game on while paying homage to the classic, influential film. The last time Cameron collaborated with a big-name director was with Soderbergh on SOLARIS, and if this is even close to how good of a remake that film was, then we have a treat in store for us.
So the question is, who’s he going to get to replace Raquel Welch?
That’s a trick question. Nobody can replace Raquel Welch.
