David Fincher is off to see the Prime Minster, the wonderful Julie Guillard of Oz! Back in February, the Finchmeister was looking to get the ball rolling on his remake of 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea. There’s a bunch of countries out there where he could shoot scenes, but he decided that Australia would be his port of choice.
And now, the Oz government has confirmed that Finch will start filming there, on the upcoming nautical adventure.
So why Australia you ask? Well, thanks to next door neighbors New Zealand setting a precedent with filming, with all those hobbits and whatnot, Australia has followed suit, introducing tax breaks and the like to make a costly project that little bit cheaper to produce on that side of the hemisphere. Here’s the official announcement of Hollywood savings so cheap, you’d swear that the country must have been home to criminals in the past:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Arts Minister Tony Burke today announced The Walt Disney Studios film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will join a growing list of blockbuster productions filmed in Australia.
While casting decisions are still to be made and locations are yet to be finalised, the filming of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will give Australian talent the opportunity to work with some of the best screen professionals in the business – both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes.
To attract the film to Australia, the Gillard Government will grant the producers a one-off payment of $21.6 million which will result in substantial new investment in Australia and could create up to 2,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, Fincher has been busy. He’s helped produce and direct two episodes of the Netflix exclusive House of Cards remake, and has spun more mainstream stories in The Social Network and the Americanised Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Finding a location for the movie is a solid start so far, although he’ll have to overcome the usual obscure fan ire over his choice to remake the 1954 classic.
Last Updated: April 3, 2013
Andre116
April 3, 2013 at 13:10
Will have to see how this turns out. Was thinking the other day though that it has been a while since someone made a film in an underwater setting.
Sir Captain Rincethis
April 3, 2013 at 13:57
true, what was the last one under water? There was a time where it seemed hella popular…
Andre116
April 3, 2013 at 14:29
I think the last one that I saw was Deep Blue sea. I hope they make some Abyss-ish again some time.
James Francis
April 6, 2013 at 15:53
Water-based movies rarely do well. Apparently they are expensive and hell to shoot. That’s probably why we see so few of them.
James Francis
April 6, 2013 at 15:53
Neat. 20,000 Leagues is actually a great property to revisit with all the nice toys they have in movies today.