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Robert Downey Jr. & Jon Favreau Reteaming for Cowboys & Aliens

by Alex Billington
September 1, 2009

Didn't see this coming! The Risky Biz Blog reports today that Jon Favreau has officially slated Cowboys and Aliens as his next directing gig following Iron Man 2 with Robert Downey Jr. attached to play the lead. Sounds like Iron Man in the old west! Cowboys and Aliens is an adaptation of the Platinum Comics graphic novel. The first draft of the screenplay was co-written by Iron Man writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. Then Star Trek writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci took over and have been rewriting it with "Lost" producer Damon Lindelof. Now DreamWorks is readying the project for a summer of 2011 debut.

Exactly as it sounds, Cowboys & Aliens, written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, explores what would happen if the traditional Old West enemies, cowboys and American Indians, found the prairie attacked by aliens in mid-1800s Arizona. This project has been in development for a long time, with directors like Ron Howard and writers like Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Donnelly attached in earlier iterations. Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will still be producing, along with Kurtzman and Orci executive producing. This is quite an interesting mix of talent all-around, which makes it a very high profile project, especially following Iron Man 2 and all of the buzz that movie has.

I really have nothing against seeing these two team up once again, especially with Kurtzman and Orci as well, it's actually kind of exciting. And as for the movie itself, it sounds like it'll be one hell of a fun adventure where we get to see two competing sides team up to take on one common enemy - alien invaders. Screw the repulsor rays this time, bring on the bow and arrows!

Filed under Hype, Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

CL

this project was always intriguing. now it just got a hella a lot better. does this kill favreau's involvement with Avengers though??
cat

@CL avengers is still good to go. not expected until late 2012. plenty of time to do both projects.
cat

or he knows they're not asking him to work on the project.
http://juno.com Jamdolin

Interesting project, but after the Soloist I need a RDJ break...and Holmes...give me a break, this guy is not summer blockbuster material. Iron Man was good, but I know we will all be a bit disappointed with Iron Man 2 -- what are the chances that IM2 would be one of the rare "better than the original" movies? What? 1 in 10 chance [Dark Knight and Spider-Man 2 are probably in this category]? What are the chances that Iron Man 2 is like POTC Dead Man's Chest, or Matrix Revolutions - I'd say 60-70%. So that leaves mediocrity in the middle somewhere. And then this movie...lame - let's get some new faces on the screen!
Scagginsvolley

I found this article to be quite confusing.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

^ What was so confusing about this article? Would like to try and fix any problems.
http://www.internapse.com Internapse

Great article and great news! If Favreau is directing, and Downey Jr. is acting, I'm watching! So far, 1/1 with Iron Man, 2/2 with Iron Man 2, and 3/3 with what sounds like a summer flick I'll be paying to see.
teyhtr

Sounds to me they want to be the next Nolan-Bale.
zetsu

yeah another comicbook/graphic novel film these are slowly becoming a film genre themselves just like sci-fi,horror or a musical.i just want to see the iron-man 2 trailer.
Trey

sonds interesting
RStewie

Alex, honestly it was all the names that were confusing me. I'm only a film ENJOYER, not really a names kind of person. Who is on this project, and what have they done before? The rest, I'm not really interested in.
branden

This movie is going to be insane! Downey, Favreau, written by Iron Man, Star Trek and Lost producers?! I haven't read any of the graphic novel, but at first glance I would think it's a stupid concept, but throw in some great names of people that love what they and this will be awesome.
Haz

I read the graphic a few months back It's not a good one. Pretty boring story of a cowboys and his compatriots trying to ruin the plans of an alien invasion. Not much happens. Although with Damon Lindelof involved, im definitely all ears. PS: RDJ doesn't fit the main charachter in comic. I would love to see Josh Holloway from Lost go for it! PEACE! PS: Love the website!
SlashBeast

Whatever. RDJ will play himself in another role and all will move on.