"Enchanted" director signs on for "Limpet" remake

By Steven Zeitchik

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "The Incredible Mr. Limpet," the 1964 comedy starring Don Knotts as a man who turns into a talking fish, is getting an update at Warner Bros., and the studio has found a director for the project.

"Enchanted" director Kevin Lima will take the helm of the remake.

The title character of the original is an otherwise bland sort who after his transformation becomes a World War II hero, helping the Allies thwart enemy warships.

The picture was a hybrid of live action and animation, with Arthur Lubin directing the live sections and Robert McKimson helming the animated parts.

The new project, which also will blend the two formats, has been through several iterations, with Robin Williams and Jim Carrey among the stars for whom it previously had been developed. Mike Judge ("Office Space," "Idiocracy") was at one point connected with the project as director.

Lima is directing several Warners projects, including the period sorcery tale "The Spook's Apprentice" and the studio's update of the Tom Thumb tale, titled "Thumb." He's also on board to direct Universal's big-screen version of "Candyland."

This project would be another in the latest round of live/animated hybrids that began when 20th Century Fox's "Alvin & the Chipmunks" became a hit in 2007.

Warners has several such movies in development, including a Yogi Bear update. Lima is considered one of the more respected practitioners of the form, with "Enchanted" and "Thumb" falling in the hybrid category.

(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)

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