Ever since his mo-cap dreams rather went up in smoke when Disney shut down his studio that specialised in the technology, he’s been looking to return to live action projects (his first since Cast Away in 2000). He’s been rumoured for numerous new projects in the last few months, and now he’s got one more, as The Wrap reports that he has signed on to direct Here There Be Monsters for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.
Brian Helgeland is on screenplay duties, which centres on Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones. Info from when Greengrass was interested in helming says Jones gets wrongly stripped of his commission and is hired by a rich shipping magnate to investigate the disappearance of his merchant ships in the North Atlantic. Jones and his shipmates slowly realize that its the work of a sea serpent, and they use unconventional yet visionary naval strategies to battle the creature and stay alive. The project is based on an original ideal by Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull.
Quite when Zemeckis might get round to this isn’t clear, as he has become attached to a number of projects lately, including Replay, Flight, The Animated American and Major Matt Mason. It isn’t clear which project will go before cameras first, although Flight is quite likely to shoot this autume, with the others coming afterwards (although it’s more than possible he’ll drop out of a couple).