Will Smith loves working in science fiction and when he’s not battling aliens he’s taking on somewhat different projects such as ‘The City That Sailed’. This one is going to be steeped slightly more in magic than science but sounds like it could be interesting. The film is going to be directed by Shawn Levy (‘Real Steel‘) who has been wanting to work with Smith since the aborted ‘Fantastic Voyage’ remake that was being pushed in 2011. The original draft for the film was written by Andrew Niccol (‘Gattaca’) though is currently being redone by Audrey Wells (‘Under the Tuscan Sun’).
The film is set to take place partially in London but mainly in the streets of New York, specifically Manhattan. It’s a tale of a street magician, presumably Will Smith’s character, who becomes separated from his daughter. Somehow she ends up in London and while there she finds magical candles that can grant wishes. Her wish? For Manhattan to split off from New York and sail to England like a giant ship with her father aboard.
It sounds like something that could be a good bunch of surreal fun that would work well as a slow burn with dark humor – though I doubt it’ll end up how I’m picturing it in my mind. Of course that might just be there from reading that the first draft was by the author of one of my favorite slower science fiction films of all time in ‘Gattaca’. Still, it’s an interesting concept and without production date set for the feature it shouldn’t interfere with any of his other projects such as ‘Selling Time‘ or the series we’d all prefer to see him back in, ‘Independence Day‘.
Are you interested in seeing Smith’s strange journey across the Ocean in a magical tail? Or are you of the opinion that he needs to get back in the cockpit fighting aliens? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Slash Film.
