I somehow had no idea that Nicholas Stoller, the director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, was involved in Gulliver's Travels, the retelling of the classic story that will star Jack Black as the titular character. To be fair, I also had no idea he wrote the screenplay for the new Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man, so I guess I'm not exactly following Stoller's career as closely as I think I am.
But anyway, during interviews for Yes Man, Stoller was forced to give a few tiny details about Gulliver, a project he's obviously not allowed to talk much about. It'll be directed by Rob Letterman, who helmed DreamWorks' potential animated hit Monsters vs. Aliens, and Stoller promises that Gulliver is "gonna be pretty exciting. It's a big fantasy comedy movie. I'm just seeing the initial sketches and drawings."
Black's Gulliver will live in modern-day New York, but the Lilliput he finds himself in is distinctly un-modern. "He kind of falls into Lilliput which is more fantasy then..I think the originals, the original novel took place in kind of 18th century England, and so this is more of a fantasy universe he falls into."
He did give one concrete hint about other lands Gulliver might visit, suggesting that the island of Brobdingnag, home of giants, might make an appearance. "I'm sure they'll throw that in there as well and would suit Jack Black's take on Gulliver quite well."
So there you have it-- the writer of the movie doesn't know much about the plot, which means we're probably a long, long way from seeing. But it sounds well-suited to Black and Stoller is a champ, so it may well wind up being worth the wait.
