Damián Szifrón, who was nominated this year for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, was selected to write the screenplay for the reboot film of the classic 1970s Bionic Man tale. The Six Billion Dollar Man, to star Mark Wahlberg (Ted, Shooter, The Italian Job) as Steve Austin, will be directed by Peter Berg (Battleship, Hancock).
“I couldn’t be more honored and grateful. Such a major challenge represents a great opportunity,” Szifrón said in a press release this week. “The themes surrounding this beloved property allow for the creation of a memorable sci-fi actioner as well as a bold spy thriller. Expectations are high and I’ll do my best to deliver the strongest basis for an amazing cinematic experience.”
The Argentinian writer/director won numerous awards internationally for his film Wild Things, including the Oscar nod. He has also penned and directed several Latin TV series.
The film will be based on the characters in the classic TV series, The Six Million Dollar Man, and its source material, the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin, reviewed previously at borg.com here.
The new story focuses again on Steve Austin, a military officer brought back to life after a disaster using modern technology, a feature sure to be vastly different from the original series (recall we didn’t have LASIK, high capacity microprocessor circuits, advanced robotics, any other borg technology… you name it… back then).
Wahlberg, Steven Levinson and Bob Weinstein will serve as producers for the movie for TWC-Dimension films.
The Six Billion Dollar Man is targeted for release in 2016.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
