Does Zach Galifiankis wish to be a fish in The Incredible Mr. Limpet?

“You’re not a fish. You’re a man. You walk around on both legs, homo erectus!”

Originally, Johnny Depp was in talks to fill the fins of Don Knotts in the live-action/animated remake of THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET.

Looks like the talks have shifted towards Zach Galifianakis taking on the lead role. Producers are currently eyeing Galifianakis to bring his style of comedy into a film that’s nearing 50 years old.

While we usually hate on remakes here, this is one that makes a little bit more sense to retool story-wise. The original plot takes place before the U.S. becomes involved in World War II, before the attack on Pearl Harbor. A fish loving man named Henry Limpet (Knotts) is rejected by the Navy, but during a stroll near the dock has an accident. He falls into the water and is turned into a fish. Determined to still help the Navy, Mr. Limpet finds his friend who gets him commissioned to find Nazi U-boats.

I have to wonder what they will do with this one to make it reflect current times, if it does at all. I love Galifianakis and hope that they don’t want to turn him into the next Jack Black so to speak. To be fair, I like Black too, but he went from THE CABLE GUY to GULLIVER’S TRAVELS. So excuse me for being a bit leery.

Warner Bros. is doing the update with ENCHANTED director Kevin Lima.