Now that he’s pretty much been forced to give up on motion capture following the failure of Mars Needs Moms (produced through his ImageMovers studio) and Disney cancelling the planned CGI Yellow Submarine, Robert Zemeckis has been rumoured for various live action projects.
The latest is Vulture reporting that Zemeckis is currently in serious talks to direct the Warner Bros. project Replay, an adaptation of the 1987 best-selling novel by Ken Grimwood, which would somewhat take him back into Back To The Future territory (mixed with Groundhog Day). Previously Ben Affleck was in talks to direct the project, although he decided to make the Iranian hostage movie Argo instead.
Replay is about a radio journalist who dies in 1988 from a heart attack, only to re-awaken as his 18-year-old self in 1963, with all of his memories and experiences from his last life intact. Every time he reaches the year 1988, he dies, although he can make different choices each time around, with his main focus trying to prevent the death of his daughter.
Zemeckis was recently attached to Flight for Paramount, but it is believed that he will direct Replay first, since Denzel Washington hasn’t fully committed to Flight yet.