‘Wanted’ helmer Timur Bekmambetov directs ‘Moby Dick’ re-imagining
‘Wanted ‘ helmer Timur Bekmambetov will direct a re-imagining of Herman Melville’s whale tale ‘Moby Dick’.
Adam Copper and Bill Collage will pen the screenplay described as a graphic novel-style version will significant structural changes.
“We wanted to take a graphic novel sensibility to a classic narrative,” said Collage explaining the omission of the first-person narrator by the young seaman Ishmael, who observes how Ahab’s obsession with killing the great white whale overwhelms his good judgment as captain.
According to the scribes, the change will allow them to depict the whale’s decimation of other ships prior to its encounter with Ahab’s Pequod, and Ahab will be depicted more as a charismatic leader than a brooding obsessive.
“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.”
Scott Stuber is producing with Jim Lemley and Cormac and Marianne Wibberley.