Stephen Sommers To Direct Tarzan

The Jungle Book director Stephen Sommers is in negotiations to direct a big screen version of Tarzan for Warner Bros, reports Variety. Two years ago, the studio was negotiating with Guillermo del Toro to direct but his commitment to The Hobbit has put him out of the running.

Jerry Weintraub (Ocean’s Eleven) is producing through his Jerry Weintraub Prods.

Variety says that Sommers will also co-write the “Tarzan” script with Stuart Beattie. With the first two “Mummy” movies, “The Scorpion King” and “Van Helsing,” Sommers, who is repped by WMA, has become a connoisseur of the big-budget, effects-driven spectacle. He recently finished shooting the summer 2009 Paramount tentpole, “G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra,” which Beattie came in to write for him. Read the rest of this entry

Stephen Sommers talks G.I.Joe

Just as Paramount breathed new life into the Transformers franchise last summer, the studio is hoping to do the same to this sci-fi soldier series about a team of military experts battling the villainous Cobra organization.

With production now well under way on Paramount’s live-action G.I. Joe feature film, director Stephen Sommers took a moment out from shooting to talk about the big-screen version of the Hasbro toy, cartoon and comic book franchise.

Stephen Sommers, like any fan of the 1980s incarnation of G.I. Joe, digs the black-clad, silent ninja Snake-Eyes, played in the film by Ray Park.

“He’s the world’s greatest ninja, but he’s also next-generation. He’s not afraid to use a sword one second, and a split-second later he’s pulling out his Glock.”

Sommers added,

“His chief nemesis is arguably the world’s other great ninja, Storm Shadow. The two grew up together, were blood brothers and now are mortal enemies.”

Storm Shadow is played by South Korean actor Byung-hun Lee. Lee completed his first day of principal photography March 13.

G.I. Joe’s ensemble cast includes Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sienna Miller, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Rachel Nichols, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Said Taghmaoui and Dennis Quaid.