Hayley Atwell has signed on to the indie adventure film The Return Of Captain Nemo. The sequel to Jules Verne’s classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea finds Atwell playing Sara, the niece of President Ulysses S Grant, who orders the release from prison of the infamous Captain Nemo in order for him to track down the source of the mysterious sea monsters that are sinking ships along the Atlantic Coast. Hugh Bonneville has already been announced as having been cast as Nemo.
Pearry Teo will be directing this $10 million 3D film entirely on soundstages using green screens and CGI to create the film’s 19th century settings. The plan is to begin filming in January.
Providing producer Amy Krell can close the financing deals she mentions in the Deadline article on Atwell’s casting, this will be the first of four projects based on Verne’s novel that have been in development to make it in front of cameras. Disney has been developing a 20,000 Leagues film with David Fincher, though at one point they had reached a projected cost of $150 million.
