After making the first three Pirates Of The Caribbean films and The Ring, Gore Verbinski became a big name in directing circles, but since then he’s been hidden away directing the animated Rango, and turning down all offers for other movies, including Pirates 4.
However it now seems he’s set for a return to live action filmmaking, with Variety reporting he’s in talks to take on the long-gestating remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye film, the Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. The movie has been in development for over a decade, with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Mark Waters and Chuck Russell attached to direct at various points, while Jim Carrey, Owen Wilson and Mike Myers and others have been down to star. The most recent potential lead was Sasha Baron Coehn, but apparently he’s no longer involved. The list of screenwriters is even longer, with at least ten different people having a go, with the latest being Steve Conrad, who worked with Verbinski on The Weather Man.
The film itself will be about the titular Walter Mitty, who lives a small life as a pulp fiction writer, but dreams of grand adventures. These start to come true when he’s handed a a book by a mysterious women who says it contains the location of the hidden Dutch crown jewels. This soon lead Mitty into the middle of a confusing conspiracy, where he learns that being a hero is tougher than he imagined.
If all goes well, Fox hopes to start shooting the movie next Spring for release in 2012, but with its long and troubled development, there are no guarantees. And with Verbinski having worked with Johnny Depp on Pirates and Rango, what’s the betting he might try and team up with him again here?