Downey On Board With “ID1884”

Robert Downey Jr., who actually made us happy to see Iron Man–something Marvel hasn’t been able to pull off in a few years–is on board the straight out of development hell Cowboy & Aliens from Platinum Studios’ graphic novel. The project is at Dreamworks and Universal (where it’s been for about a decade now, I believe) and looks for a 2010 street date. The article at Hollywood Reporter lists a who’s who of scribes who have taken a crack at it:

David Hayter (“X2: X-Men United”), Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (“Sahara”), Jeffrey Boam (“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”), Thompson Evans (“Wedlocked”), Chris Hauty (“Never Back Down”) and Steve Oedekerk (“Evan Almighty”). The most recent draft by “Iron Man” and “Children of Men” writers Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus clearly hit the right notes, as the project looks to gain its major players quickly.

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The plot is fairly simple. Cowboys vs. Apaches. Then aliens arrive and it’s on. Is there really anything else you want to know? Except maybe where to buy it. It’s out of print, apparently. Not for long.

Of course, we had a page on this project back on Coming Attractions. And at the time, there was a somewhat-competing project at Fox called Ghost Riders in the Sky, which got shelved a decade ago. It was to be directed by Jan DeBont from a script by W.D. Richter and Mark Protosevich. I wonder whatever happened to that project, or if it’s still on the shelf…

Update: James T. points out that the comic itself is online here. Greetings to our visitors from Rotten Tomatoes. We welcome you to the asylum. Today in the Needcoffee cafeteria: punch and pie.

Image.

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