Over a decade since he was scorched by his experience on John Carter, Andrew Stanton is set to return to live-action filmmaking with another epic science-fiction film with Searchlight drama In the Blink of an Eye.
The Hollywood Reporter reveal that the Academy Award winning director behind the likes of Wall-E and Finding Nemo will direct Colby Day’s 2017 Black List script, which tells a story that ‘seeks to explore no less than the entire history of the world and tackle the nature of life, love, hope and connection, doing so by focusing on three intersecting storylines’.
According to the report Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia are the influences. Not setting the bar too high then?
Stanton hasn’t spent the entire 10 years away from live-action, having directed episodes of Stranger Things, Better Call Saul, Apple sci-fi series For All Mankind, and the criminally underrated Amazon Prime series Tales from the Loop, all while making the billion dollar Pixar sequel Finding Dory.
His last live-action feature film was the $250 million budgeted Disney misfire John Carter, which starred Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) as the Edgar Rice Burroughs character. It told the Star Wars influencing tale of a Civil War vet who was transported to a barren planet seemingly inhabited by 12-foot tall barbarians, where he escapes, only to encounter a princess in desperate need of a saviour. It crawled to $284 million at the worldwide box-office, and isn’t at all bad considering its Waterworld level reputation.
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