It remains the case that after David Fincher completes his upcoming Dragon Tattoo adaptation (the trailer for which I watch on a weekly basis– that Immigrant Song cover, man..), the director will be moving on to another adaptation, this time taking on a much more time-tested classic; 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

Word today though, is that he might not be all that concerned with sticking to the text…

These details actually come from screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, who is out on the town discussing Contagion, to which he also put his talented pen. CinemaBlend got him talking about the project and his approach to adapting the novel, which apparently involved not really adapting it all and instead simply being inspired by it and the characters. Specifying that little of the plot will be pulled from the book, he did assure them that this wasn’t going to entirely dismiss the prose from which it pulls…

“David and I had a really cool idea for the relationship between Nemo, and Aronnax and Land… That’s really what we kind of got into. But I think it’s very, very true to the spirit of the book.”

Burns should have a strong idea exactly what’s up with the story, since he’s done with the script, and simply waiting for Fincher to wrap up The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. If he makes anything like the transition he pulled from The Social Network, it will be a nearly immediate shift from one to the other, so work on pre-vis (which will be extensive for a movie Fincher has said would be up to 70% CGI) and casting will roll fast.

It’s worth nothing that Burns also mentions The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a project that will have Soderbergh playing with spy comedy. The online world made it news today that Clooney will not be starring in the film, as he’s long been associated with it rather informally (often reported back when the now debunked-as-overblown rumors of Soderbergh’s imminent retirement where a thing). Regardless, that script is also complete and presumably ready for Soderbourgh to push forward with once he’s done with his Contagion duties.

twitter, comments, boards — got thoughts on Fincher and how much fidelity he should maintain with Verne’s text?

(via /Film)