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Brad Bird Considering Taking Over Robert Zemeckis’s Abandoned Sea Monster Movie

Director Brad Bird attends the
Brad Bird Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

Last November, it was revealed that director Robert Zemeckis had ended his flirtation with Brian Helgeland’s American history and monster mash-up Here There Be Monsters, which pitted American Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones against various tentacled monsters of the deep, and little more was heard about the project. But now insiders tell Vulture that the project may have signs of life, as Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol director Brad Bird is meeting with Legendary brass about the project, which originated as an idea by company chairman Thomas Tull.

There’s no deal in place yet for Bird, but our interest is piqued by the story: The Helgeland-fashioned script had Jones wrongly stripped of his British naval commission and hired by a shipping magnate to investigate the disappearance of his merchant ships in the North Atlantic. Soon enough, Jones and his crew suspect that it’s the handiwork of a sea monster and have to fight to survive it. Giant squid, call your agent! 

Brad Bird Considering Taking Over Robert Zemeckis’s Abandoned Sea Monster Movie