Brad Pitt being courted for '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' role, reports say

Disney is considering a remake of its 1954 adventure classic '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,' with David Fincher in line to direct. (Photo by The Times-Picayune archive)

By Mike Scott, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayuneon October 19, 2012 at 7:00 PM, updated October 19, 2012 at 8:27 PM

Turns out director David Fincher isn't yet ready to scuttle his "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" remake for Disney. In fact, he's hoping to convince his "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" star Brad Pitt to come along for the ride.

That's the word from Daily Variety, which is reporting that Pitt is being courted to play the role of sailor Ned Land, originated by Kirk Douglas in Disney's 1953 telling of the film.

Granted, the casting is among the least of the project's concerns right now. Andrew Kevin Walker was brought on board to rewrite the script for the film last November, but Disney is reportedly still considering whether to green-light ! it. It's still strongly considering it, though, at least if there's any truth to Variety's report that the studio has placed a three-month hold on Fincher while it makes up its mind.

Disney had no comment for the Variety story, and Pitt's representatives were non-committal.

If Pitt does end up boarding Fincher's "20,0000 Leagues Under the Sea" - based on the 1970 Jules Verne novel - it would be the fourth film on which the two have worked together, after "Benjamin Button," "Fight Club" and "Se7en."

The possibility of their paring tops today's Evening Edition, a regular rundown of recent Hollywood headlines from around the web:

The Hollywood Reporter: Motion-capture expert says stars risk appearing in porn if data falls into the wrong hands. That might not be a big deal for, say, "Lord of the Rings" actor Andy Serkis. But anyone who remembers the CG version of Angelina Jolie in 2008's "Beowulf" should instantly realize why this should be considered a major concern for actors as Hollywood continues to try to wrap its head around this still-emerging technology.

Nola.com: Spike Lee's New Orleans-shot "Oldboy" reimagining gets a release date. This is one I blogged earlier today, but here it is again in case you missed it.

Reuters (via Yahoo! News): John Hawkes: A familiar face and reluctant fame. The talented Hawkes has quietly been turning in quality performances for some time now, but the reluctant ! star's un! der-the-radar status is about to change. He is the star of "The Sessions," the surprisingly warm and funny drama about a man in an iron lung who sets out to lose his virginity -- and as anyone who saw the film at the 2012 New Orleans Film Festival can tell you, the performance makes him an instant Oscar front-runner. Here, Reuters talks to Hawkes about his remarkable transformation for the film and his reaction to the recognition he's started to get.

EW.com: Weekend preview: "Paranormal Activity 4" will haunt the No. 1 spot at the box office. But then, you don't need a medium to tell you that.

Gold Derby: Oscars 2012: Experts predict the winners. The Gold Derby blog, which is springing to life now that movie-award season is under way, has compiled a cool chart, based on polls of its editors, various experts and the site's users, to attempt to handicap the front-runners in 20 of the 2013 Oscar races. (Worth noting: Based on these charts, two Louisiana films -- "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "Django Unchained" -- would appear primed to make a run at the Best Picture award.) Just a word of warning: This is the sort of thing you could spend a lot of time perusing, so don't click through if you're working on any sort of deadline.