Hugh Jackman is setting his sights on Real Steel for DreamWorks with Shawn Levy to direct. Levy has quite a list of films under his belt: Big Fat Liar, The Pink Panther, and Night at the Museum and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
Real Steal is kind of like a retired Rocky meets 2000-pound human type robot. Jackman would play an ex-fighter, who becomes a Robot Boxing promoter, but whose chances of success are hampered by his access to sub-standard robot parts. That is until he discovers a discarded robot that always seems to win. The ex-fighter has also discovered he’s the father of a 13-year old son, and they bond as the robot brawls its way toward the top.
The studio would like to see a production start date in May 2010.
The idea of the movie came from a short story by Richard Matheson. If anyone knows Spielberg’s history of film, Matheson wrote Spielberg’s directing debut, the television movie Duel, and he was story editor on Spielberg’s Amazing Stories.
Matheson authored the book I am Legend, which was made into three movies. The last one starring Will Smtih with the same title. Matheson’s recent writing associations in the film business includes these movies: The Box, The Incredible Shrinking Man and Countdown.
Popularity: 1% [?]
