Robert Downey Jr. To Ride With 'Cowboys and Aliens'
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Newsstand, Dreamworks, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Western
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Robert Downey Jr. is in talks to star in Cowboys and Aliens, DreamWorks' adaptation of Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley's graphic novel. (Read Matt's original story on it.) Downey Jr. would play Zeke Jackson, a former Union Army gunslinger, who is engaged in a battle against the Apache. But the battle between settlers and Native Americans is interrupted when an alien spaceship crashes into the Silver City prairie. Turns out, they have their eye on conquering Earth, forcing the warring westerners to form an uneasy alliance.
The project has been in and out of development for years, but apparently the latest draft is catching some A-list interest. As it was written by Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, who were behind Iron Man and Children of Men, I am immediately expecting good things out of something that, if handled poorly, could be as bad as Wild Wild West. Good writers and a good actor like Downey Jr. could make this movie incredibly fun. This is how movies like the first Pirates of the Caribbean come about.
I have to say, between this and Downey Jr.'s rumored interest in a comic-based Sherlock Holmes, I wonder if he is going to plunge into Hugh Jackman levels of geekdom. They will have to start fighting each other to get to the best comic book scripts. And that should be a movie all its own.
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(Page 1)2. Disregard... that comment was meant for the Fight Club penis song post...
Posted at 11:03AM on Jun 16th 2008 by Lance
1. Considering we both posted this last week, I'm assuming you either got this from me or JoBlo. Either way, cite your sources.
Posted at 11:01AM on Jun 16th 2008 by Lance