Although he went off into motion-capture land for a decade, it seems Hollywood hasn’t lost interest in Robert Zemeckis as a live action director. He’s been rumoured for all sorts of movies since Disney put the breaks on his mo-cap studio, after the likes of A Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms underperformed.
Recently it was said his first live action flick since 2000’s Castaway is likely to be a Flight, about a pilot who becomes a hero when he save a plane full of passengers, but gets involved with a cover-up when the FAA tries to help him hide his drug and alcohol problems. However THR now reports that he’s also in talks to helm Major Matt Mason, based on the Mattel property.
The film would reunite Zemeckis with his Castaway and Forrest Gump cohort Tom Hanks, whose Playtone Productions is producing the movie (it’s not known yet if Hanks will appear in the film at all). Major Matt Mason will be shot in 3D, and is based on the 1966 Mattel action figure, who is an astronuat who lives and works on the moon. The toy line eventually went onto include Mason’s three-man crew of civilian astronaut Doug Davis, the blond and blue-eyed Sgt. Storm, and the African-American Lt. Jeff Long. They eventually team up with the giant alien, Captain Lazer, to battle the threat of hostile extraterrestrials.
Graham Yost, (the creator of TV’s Justified and writer of Speed), is co-writing the screenplay with Tom Hanks, although there’s no news on when it might be ready to shoot. Hanks is gonna be busy on the producing front though, as he’s also planning an HBO TV series based on Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (which is currently being developed for a six season), and a movie version of the Green Day musical, American Idiot.