Written by: Tab Murphy (official) & Chris Hauty (first stab)
Directed by:
 
 

  Now a contender for the great American novel, this  salty saga of vengeance and obsession was harpooned at the time of its 1851 publication by critics who found it overly long and boorish (observations no doubt still shared by countless high school students). They felt that like Ahab, the story didn't have much of a leg to stand on. The once lucrative whaling industry also was in its death throes and of little interest to readers. The book was forgotten for decades before being rediscovered in the 1920s by scholars who understood and appreciated the multilevel symbolism and allegory dismissed by their 19th-century predecessors. Herman Melville published little after the failure of Moby Dick and made his living as a customs inspector in New York City, where he was born in 1819 and died in complete obscurity in 1891. He is buried in the Bronx.

  It was announced on December 28, 2001 that Dreamworks Animation was about to go into pre-production on this latest adaptation of the Herman Melville classic. Moby Dick is expected to follow up the currently in production Sinbad.

  According to the Feature Animation Forum, the extremely talented Brizzi Brothers, who have been working on several aborted Disney projects (including a very dark take on Don Quixote) before leaving the Mouse House, will be directing this traditionally animated feature for Dreamworks.

  A May 2002 report confirmed that the Brizzi Brothers are indeed working on Moby Dick, which would be told from the perspective of the whale, and tentatively scheduled for release in 2004.

  It was revealed in August 2002 that Chris Hauty had worked on a Moby Dick script for DreamWorks' toon division.

  Paul and Gaetan Brizzi describe in an August 2003 interview their experiences at DreamWorks, working on an interpretation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick under the command of Jeffrey Katzenberg, their former chief at Disney, who remains one of their staunchest admirers. The movie needed a prologue to show the struggle with the white whale that had cost Captain Ahab his leg, which informs the entire narrative. "Of course it's an intense sequence: it's about whale hunting, harpoons, a monster, the biggest whale ever, the left hand of God, fighting, and tough people at sea," they say. They prepared a storyboard that deliberately excluded harpooning, but included the tense, fearful faces of the hunters. "Then this incredible thing happened to us... we were sent a note telling us to 'draw these guys with smiley faces because they love their job'." Gaetan is halfway to his feet and fizzing with indignation. "Then why did they ask us to do Moby Dick? It's about obsessional revenge, madness, so you'd think they'd know we're not going to be drawing teddy bears."

  'Steve G', who worked on the project with the Brizzis, further commented that "they have a wonderfully unique and dark vision. Despite the stupid premise of 'Moby Dick through the whale's eye' it was actually one of the better outlines I'd read. But I perfectly understand Jeffrey Katzenberg's concerns. This was a VERY dark and dificult picture. It was about tragically flawed characters and redemption in the strongest sense of the word. The Brizzis take on it was perfect. It was very DARK! BUT after Spirit failing it scared Jeffrey Katzenberg away from making such a straight and dark movie. If Spirit had succeeded I don't doubt that Moby Dick would've continued on track. They tried for a short while to find a way to lighten it up, but clearly this material was unable to be lightened up without severe damage to the property. I'm glad Jeffrey Katzenberg made the right decision to just shelve it instead of turning it into something that would've harmed everyone."

  Sony announced in May 2003 that it had signed a deal with Paul Brizzi & Gaëtan Brizzi to possibly helm two of its animated projects, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Surf's Up!  These would likely keep the brothers busy through at least 2006... in other words, expect them to be no longer involved in DreamWorks' Whale Movie.

  The Hollywood Reporter announced on October 7, 2002 that animation scribe Tab Murphy was developing the tentatively titled Whale Movie for DreamWorks Animation. "We believe in Tab and what he's done in the past," DreamWorks head of animation Ann Daly said. "He had an idea he wanted to explore, so we said, 'Go, do and come back.'" Murphy's whale tale, still in the earliest stages of development, bears only mild relation to the Herman Melville classic, Daly said. "It is a story about a great white whale, but it's not directly related to Moby Dick," she said. "We thought Tab's original idea had all the characteristics of a great story." Whale Movie is being developed into a fully animated feature, though it has yet to be determined whether the film will be completely CG or tradigital.