News
Favreau and Downey to Play Cowboys & Aliens
September 1, 2009
The Hollywood Report's "Heat Vision Blog" is reporting that Jon Favreau has signed on to direct Robert Downey Jr. in the DreamWorks/Universal sci-fi Western Cowboys & Aliens, based on the Platinum Studios comic book series. This will be the third pairing of the duo who had enormous success with last year's Iron Man and are currently finishing up that movie's anticipated 2010 sequel Iron Man 2. It's being reported that this will be Favreau's next project on completion of the sequel.
The comic explores what would happen if the traditional Old West enemies -- cowboys and Native Americans -- found the prairie attacked by aliens in mid-1800s Arizona.
The project has been in development for many years under a variety of producers and writers, the most recent version being written by executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, along with "Lost" executive producer Damon Lindelof. The project has long been in development by Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, who remain on as producers, along with Platinum president Scott Rosenberg.
You can read more about the project over at Heat Vision.
Related Articles From Other SitesPosted by: Thekid on September 1, 2009 at 23:45:57
sounds interesting.
Posted by: ben on September 1, 2009 at 23:49:52
what?!
Posted by: Ender88 on September 1, 2009 at 23:51:01
yeah this could be cool! right? right?
I mean favreau has failed yet so i look forward to this release and i'll have to find the comic series as well
Posted by: Anonymous on September 1, 2009 at 23:51:58
Downey and Favreau are getting to be real bros.
Posted by: the ButnakedAvenger on September 2, 2009 at 00:02:31
I'll always think of the Gary Larson "farside" panel with the cowboy shooting over his shoulder at UFOs blasting back with the caption "the often romanticized image of cowboys and aliens".
count me in.
Posted by: ZebraBob on September 2, 2009 at 00:08:29
Yee-HAW!!!...Wait, do the Indians get to win this time? (just askin' cause I'm Indian)
Posted by: NightCrawler027 on September 2, 2009 at 00:13:09
"Cowboys & Aliens is about an extraterrestrial species lands in Arizona in the mid-1800s. The aliens plan to quash the Wild West and enslave humanity, but the cowboys and native Apache have other plans."
Sounds interesting, however...
As if this week's bombshell announcement about Disney acquiring Marvel Entertainment wasn't big enough, here comes yet another doozy for the comic book company–except this time, it might not necessarily be to Marvel's betterment.
Favreau is currently working post-production on "Iron Man 2" for a 2010 theater release date. The superhero sequel is the first in a long line of films leading up to the release of "The Avengers" in 2012. If Favreau's next directorial gig is "Cowboys and Aliens", then his chances of living up to fans' hopes by directing "The Avengers" might be rather slim considering the proximity of the projects.
So, while the prospect of Favreau and RDJ teaming up on another comic book property is nothing short of exciting, it might mean that Marvel's careful build-up towards "The Avengers" could be in for an bumpy ride.
Dam... I hope Favreau can still direct Avengers.
Posted by: Sarakiel on September 2, 2009 at 01:00:58
I am liking the team up. Fav's iron man was perfect, I have high high hopes for iron man 2. (I mean Mickey's in it..goddamn it if Jon doesn't pick great people to be in his movie u know?)
I think he could make CvA fun and semi-realistic.
Although for the LIFE of me the first image in my head is blasted owen wilson as a cowboy from Night at The Museum...sigh....followed by WIll smith in Wild Wild West. Sheesh..
Posted by: Chris Roberts on September 2, 2009 at 01:03:03
I think this pretty much confirms he won't be doing the Avengers.
Posted by: Drunken Monk on September 2, 2009 at 01:07:03
@NightCrawler027
You have a valid point but wouldn't that also mean that potentially Downey might have a problem shooting the Avengers movie as well..? depending on how much Tony Stark is involved in the plot, which I would imagine would be alot...
Posted by: batwolf on September 2, 2009 at 01:25:13
Kurtzman and Orci are writing so it sucks already.
Posted by: Harish on September 2, 2009 at 05:58:06
Posted by: batwolf on September 2, 2009 at 01:25:13
Kurtzman and Orci are writing so it sucks already.
Why? They've done Transformers 2 (which received a general consensus 'no') and Star Trek (generally an overwhelingly great 'yes') amongst other films. What are you basing your uninspired-so-far opinion on?
Posted by: Carl XVI Gustaf on September 2, 2009 at 06:35:19
The Avengers Movie happening is starting to feel less likely. I better lower my expectations.
Posted by: Man of Tommorrow on September 2, 2009 at 07:36:55
How does this make the 'road to the Avengers film a bumpy one'? Favreau has never been confirmed as the director, it is just something that he has personally wanted to do. While he did a great job at directing 'Iron Man', I do not know if Avengers was the correct film for him, just because it seems that all of his films have been comedies(The ones I have heard of, I do not follow his other films so do not bash me). While the film should have it's comedic moments it should mostly be a serious film.
Also this will not get in Downey's way at all. He is already signed for the Avengers so Cowboys and Aliens would have to shoot before or after he finishes Avengers. Also remember he shot Sherlock Holmes between the Iron Man films which are only two years apart, just like Iron Man 2 and Avengers.
Posted by: Pete on September 2, 2009 at 08:29:43
How does Robert Downey Jr. being in this movie affect the Avengers movie. Hell, look at Samuel L. Jackson who has had two movies released within a couple weeks of each other.
Posted by: dannyb278 on September 2, 2009 at 08:44:05
those two make a great team. Now they only need me to make coffee/ be a comic book consultant for them, and we could rule the world!
Posted by: Relaxed on September 2, 2009 at 09:21:00
Don't worry. IF they're going to go with Favreau as the director for The Avengers, pre-production won't begin until 2011. He and Downey both have got plenty of time to do this and possibly even another project.
Posted by: Carl XVI Gustaf on September 2, 2009 at 09:43:22
ok, feel better now, thanks ;)
Posted by: Matthew H. on September 2, 2009 at 16:02:33
To whoever was dumb enough to say "Goodbye, Favreau directed Avengers", I say get a clue as to what you're talking about before you open your overreacting mouth.
The Avengers won't even go into production until spring/summer of 2011. You think Favreau and Downey, Jr. can't hammer this thing out in the next year and a half? This isn't Iron Man 3 we're talking about, this will be a quicker production with less CGI work to be done.
What is wrong with some of these people?
But seriously, this is a great opportunity for another team-up. The story, while on the outside sounding absolutely ridiculous, is actually pretty interesting.
Posted by: lou-bert vs. q-bert on September 2, 2009 at 16:37:07
Finally, something I actually know about. This should be very good.
Posted by: Carl XVI Gustaf on September 2, 2009 at 19:51:13
Matthew H: What you said was already said by Relaxed. And he was more polite.
Posted by: JROBERT on September 3, 2009 at 01:15:33
I would love to see Cowboys & Aliens when it comes out.What will be the third pairing between Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau sounds like it has potential to be a great Science-Fiction film.If Iron Man 2 is a hit and then Cowboy & Aliens is a hit this could be the start of a beautiful partnership.Downey Jr. and Favreau could be like Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese,Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott and Johnny Depp and Tim Burton.(We`ll have to wait and see how the hotly anticipated 2010 Iron Man 2 turns out first,as not to get ahead of ourselves,of course)but this is very exciting!
It`s funny,the Cowboys(of The Old West(as well as the European Settlers before the Cowboys)treated the Native Americans like they were Extraterrestrials in their own land-and now there will be a movie with Cowboys and Native Americans encountering actual Aliens!I love it!What a wonderfully imaginative idea!It reminds me of the animated series Cadillacs And Dinosaurs from the early 1990`s that blended in Dinosaurs in a barren-No Man`s Land-like world with super-advanced futuristic weaponry and technology and age-old archetypes of good guys and bad guys.
It sounds like things won`t be much different from that in Cowboys & Aliens, only the Aliens will be the bad guys and the Aliens and what will no doubt be super-advanced Alien technology will take the place of the unsual elemement that the Dinosaurs were in Cadillacs & Dinosaurs thrown against a barren backdrop.
Independence Day was a great movie that dealt with the not-so new theme of Alien invasion in a refreshing and exciting way(in fact,Roland Emmerich hasn`t made a good movie since Indenpendence Day and that was thirteen years ago).
Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci did a fantastic job as the writers for J.J. Abraham`s Star Trek
and..they could`ve done so much better than writing for loud dumb summer garbage like Michael Bay`s Transformers:Revenge of The Fallen.Kurtzman and Orci have it in them to write a great project in Cowboys & Aliens and I`m hopeful that they`ll redeem themselves from Transformers:Revenge of The Fallen.
Illegal immigrants often get called ''Aliens'' but in a movie like District 9,the immigrants were actual Aliens!District 9 touched on xenophobia and served as a great allegorical tale of how people of other races,religions,different backgrounds and far away lands can be treated wearily with suspicion,fear,hatred,mistrust and confusion by the Majority as ''The Others.''In Cowboys & Aliens ''The Others''
are real Aliens and traditional enemies the Cowboys and Native Americans are beseiged by a common enemy when the prairie is attacked by those aforementioned Aliens in mid-1800 Arizona.I love creative films with new twists.We need all the fresh creativity we can get right now.
I`m looking forward to Iron Man 2.I`m looking forward to Cowboys & Aliens. I`m also looking forward to the ultimate Superhero team movie The Avengers in 2012(I guess we`ll see if Favreau directs it)!
Posted by: Something is up on September 10, 2009 at 09:27:45
I am sensing a Man-Crush alert.
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