Universal will bring a re-imagined MOBY DICK to the big screen with WANTED director Timur Bekmambetov to helm, per VARIETY.
Adam Cooper and Bill Collage wrote the script, paid high six figures to turn Herman Melville's tale of the high seas into a graphic-novel style actioner.
The first-person narration from young seaman Ishmael will be gone, and the brooding and obsessive Captain Ahab will be more of a charismatic leader. The new structure will also allow the film to depict the whale attacking ships before its fateful encounter with the PEQUOD.
"Our vision isn't your grandfather's MOBY DICK," Cooper said. "This is an opportunity to take a timeless classic and capitalize on the advances in visual effects to tell what at its core is an action-adventure revenge story." Bekmambetov will likely add some of the visual styling he gave this summer's hit WANTED.
Producers are Scott Stuber with Jim Lemley and Cormac and Marianne Wibberley. Stuber and Bekmambetov have deals with Universal.
Bekmambetov is working on a WANTED sequel and is producing a slate of modestly-budgeted Russian films for Universal's international operations.
