Jason Segal (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) are both in negotiations with 20th Century Fox for roles in the upcoming adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s tale, Gulliver’s Travels.
The movie will feature Jack Black as Lemuel Gulliver, an adventure-loving writer who while on an assignment to the dreaded Bermuda Triangle, washes up on the shores of Lilliput — a whole new world where the people are equal in their evolution, but just so happen to be incredibly small.
As for who the two will play if negotiations are successful, the big trades seem to be confused (as they were with Iron Man 2’s Sam Rockwell/Mickey Rourke castings) — both have Emily Blunt playing a native princess and Jason Segal playing a man named Horatio, but THR has Blunt as Horatio’s love interest and Variety has Blunt as Gulliver’s love interest with Horatio playing Gulliver’s best buddy. While it would indeed be interesting, I’m assuming a G.I. Joe-sized princess and a massive Jack Black would make some weird-ass lookin’ babies, so I’m going to dance with the former here. I’m sure some basic research, or a question to those familiar with the classic story could answer who’s loving who here, but me being not so familiar find it more enjoyable to point out the flaws of those who think themselves too good to source the smaller guys when they break a legit story.
The interesting element within all of this is with Emily Blunt. Apparently Marvel had tapped her to play Black Widow in Iron Man 2, but because of a contract she had with Fox — which included The Devil Wears Prada — she may have to pass on the sure-to-be-gigantic superhero follow-up to be in Gulliver’s Travels. Studios are working frantically to make something work where she can do both, but Gulliver begins filming in March and Iron Man 2 in April, so it currently doesn’t look so promising for the young talent.
Rob Letterman (Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens) will handle the directing duties from the script written by Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and Joe Stillman.
[Source: THR, Variety]
