Richard Linklater's upcoming remake of THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET is beginning to take shape with a variety of talent showing interest in the passion project. Josh Gad, Jon Hamm, Kevin Hart, Danny McBride, Sarah Silverman and Key & Peele are all up for roles in the remake of the 1964 Don Knotts comedy classic. The impressive cast would join Zach Galifianakis who has been attached as Mr. Limpet for years already.
THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET follows the timid Henry Limpet, who experiences his fondest wish and is transformed into a fish. The original version had Limpet use his new abilities to help the US Navy locate and sink Nazi U-Boats, obviously. The new version sets the action in present day and has Galifianakis' Limpet attempting to save the fish population of a small beach town; lessons will no doubt be learned along the way.
Hamm is up for the role of an unscrupulous businessman, which isn't too much of a stretch for the suit wearing veteran. McBride and Silverman would play live-action characters while Gad, Hart and Key and Peele will likely voice animated sea creatures. The great news is that Linklater is directing from his own adapted screenplay and is expected to use rotoscope animation similar to his previous WAKING LIFE and A SCANNER DARKLY. I didn’t see the original but have come to the realization that anything with Don Knotts is always awesome. It sounds like a very solid cast could make this one swim on its own.
Do you cherish the original or are you excited for this remake?