Director Jon Favreau and actor Robert Downey Jr have certainly proved a popular combination with the Iron Man movies (although we haven’t seen the second one yet, of course). Well now Variety’s DealMemo blog is reporting that Favreau has shown interest in directing the comic book movie, Cownboys & Aliens, which is currently being put together by Dreamworks/Universal. They’re also saying that Robert Downey Jr may want to play the lead in the films.
It really would be a bit of a dream team is it does come together, as not only would we have them, but Spielberg is producing, and while the script was first written by Lost’s Damon Lindeloff, it’s now been polished by Star Trek’s Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (and I’ll trust they’re using their Star Trek heads and not the ones that put together Transformers 2).
The graphic novel itself does what it says on the tin, with cowboys and Native American’s battling for control of the land in the Old West, until a spaceship crash-lands and there’s a new enemy to deal with. The former earthbound enemies must team up in order to deal with the visitors from the stars.
If Favreau and Downey Jr. do indeed reteam, it would certainly ensure Cownboys & Aliens is one to watch. The movie is tentatively scheduled to go before the cameras next summer, presumably with a 2011 release in mind.