Resting your future with a film on getting Will Smith is a risky strategy, especially as he hasn’t had a film in cinemas since Seven Pounds in 2008. However he doesn’t have anything on his slate past Men In Black III, so he is free.
Back in February, Shawn Levy (Night At The Museum) signed up to helm the James Cameron produced remake of Fantastic Voyage. Now THR reports the director is keen wants an A-list star to sign up for the movie, and is meeting with Will Smith in the next few weeks to see if he will star in Fantastic Voyage.
However, since the development has been moving rather slowly on Fantastic Voyage, it is believed that Levy will likely leave the project (he’s already looking at other projects) if Will Smith or another bankable actor doesn’t sign on soon. It is also said that Fox isn’t 100% keen on landing an A-list star, likely because of the price tag that comes along with such a big name, especially considering how much the effects heavy movie will cost anyway. It was reported back in May that Hugh Jackman, who stars in Shawn Levy’s upcoming movie Real Steel, was considered to star in Fantastic Voyage, although presumably nothing has come of that.
If he stays on, Shawn Levy will direct Fantastic Voyage from a screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis and Shane Salerno. The project isn’t greenlit yet, and, while 20th Century Fox wouldn’t comment on the story, studio sources are hopeful that Shawn Levy will stay on to helm Fantastic Voyage.
Voyage revolves around a team of scientists who are shrunk to atomic size and sent in a miniature submarine inside the body of a scientist to save his life.