Travis Knight
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Warner Brothers’ beleaguered ‘Six Billion Dollar Man’ is back on track, with Travis Knight coming on board to direct.  WB acquired the rights to this film adaptation of the classic 1970s TV series ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ in 2017, and Mark Wahlberg quickly attached himself to star, but the project has struggled to come together.  Previously, directors Damián Szifron and Peter Berg have been attached only to walk away.  At one point, Mel Gibson was reportedly considering directing.  The most recent screenplay is by Bill Dubuque.

 

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Wahlberg will star as pilot/astronaut Col. Steve Austin, who, following an almost deadly accident, has parts of his body rebuilt with cybernetic enhancements.

Knight directed December’s ‘Bumblebee’, a reboot of the ‘Transformers’ franchise.  Despite excellent reviews, the picture wound up being the poorest-grossing ‘Transformers’ movie so far.  Prior to that, Knight worked on acclaimed animated projects.  The first film he directed was ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’, and he also worked on ‘Coraline’, ‘The Boxtrolls’, and ‘Paranorman’.

With a director in place, this project may come together soon.  In November, Wahlberg stated that he believed that ‘The Six Billion Dollar Man’ would begin filming by this summer.  Provided Knight doesn’t want to completely overall the existing screenplay, that is still a very realistic goal.

 

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As Wahlberg stated at the time:

“There was just a big meeting. It’s a matter of finding the right director. We’ve been close many times… It’s very reminiscent of The Fighter. It’s one of those things where you have to keep pushing, you have to keep plugging away, and eventually, it’ll come together, and hopefully, we’ll be in a situation where I find myself making the best possible version of the movie… Like with The Fighter, I think the biological clock is ticking. It’s gotta be, ya know, [shooting] by the summer of 2019, I think.”

Warner Brothers removed ‘The Six Billion Dollar Man’ from its release schedule.  Depending on how quickly things come together, it may get a new release date soon.

Check back for details.

 

Source: The Hollywood Reporter