48-year-old Ben Affleck just said his “Armageddon” days are behind him, but for 59-year-old George Clooney? Maybe they’re just getting started— and just when you think you’ve got someone pegged, they switch gears on you. Clooney seemed to be out of the game of genre and franchises—even his sci-fi film, “The Midnight Sky,” is more adult-oriented, a melancholy look at humanity’s place in the galaxy. And when Steven Soderbergh came to him to play the star of the spy film, “Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” Clooney eventually dropped out, citing his age and concern he wouldn’t be able to pull off the stunts (that project never got made and Guy Ritchie took it over). Maybe perspectives shift with a few years of Bengay and physical therapy because Clooney, his Smokehouse partner Grant Heslov are about to executive produce a feature-length adaptation of the 1970s sci-fi TV series, “Buck Rogers” which is being developed as a potential starring vehicle for him.
Legendary Pictures, the production company behind the Monsterverse with the upcoming “Godzilla Vs. Kong” film, is developing the project with comics legend/screenwriter Brian K. Vaughan (“Y: The Last Man,” “Ex Machina,” “Runaways,” “Pride of Baghdad”), but it is a multi-pronged idea. Legendary is currently developing a prestige limited series with the goal of launching both a film and an anime off-shoot if the initial series is a success (presumably if Clooney stars, he’ll be in the film?).
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Of course, this seems to be Legendary’s m.o. of very late; they recently announced a partnership with Netflix to create anime spin-off projects from their films, “Tomb Raider,” and “Kong: Skull Island.” Arguably it’s going to be every studio’s practice soon: taking an I.P., and creating multi-content streams and platforms for every audience imaginable.
READ MORE: Netflix Teaming With Legendary Television For ‘Skull Island’ & ‘Tomb Raider’ Anime Series
Apparently, there is no acting deal in place now, but Clooney and Heslov are onboard for now. Buck Rogers started as a science-fiction comic in the late 1920s, debuting in Amazing Comics, but is best known by most audiences as “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,” an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios, that was inspired by the success of “Star Wars” and ran for two seasons between September 1979 and April 1981. It’s unclear which source of inspiration the new feature will take, but given Brian K. Vaughan is a comics aficionado, it would not be a surprise if he drew more from the original Amazing Stories narratives. [THR]