Robert Downey Jr. Joins Cowboys & Aliens

Mr. Downey has scored another killer role in the upcoming sci-fi western Coyboys & Aliens! We get the following details about this film thanks to the Ojibwe caves of Yahoo:

“Cowboys & Aliens” derives from a graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley from an original idea by Rosenberg. The story centers on an Old West battle between the Apache and Western settlers, including a former Union Army gunslinger named Zeke Jackson (Downey), that is interrupted by a spaceship crashing into the prairie near Silver City, Arizona.

The story draws a parallel between the American imperialist drive to use advanced technology to conquer the “savage” Indians and the aliens’ assault on earthlings, who must join together to survive the invaders’ attack.

This sounds promising! We can expect to see this film in 2010 and I will be glad to report the progress of this picture as it is made available. This project has been on the shelf for 10 years and has been through a plethora of writers, only getting the go ahead after Children Of Men scribes Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus got their hands on it. I loved Children Of Men, and expect good things from the capable pens of these men.

Having the Cowboys and Natives band together in order to defend the earth from aliens is a great spin on the classic rivalry. I want to see aliens get smoked with stone tomahawks. That would cause great joy to well up within me.

Robert Downey Jr. as a gunslinger should be a treat to watch. I am glad this dude is getting roles-a-plenty as of late. He certainly deserves them.