Mark Wahlberg Could Be The Six Million Dollar Man
-
- July 8, 2014
By Danny F. Santos (doddleNEWS)
Mark Wahlberg is flying pretty high on the box office take for Transformers: Age of Extinction, approaching $600 million total worldwide take. Now it seems like he’s being tapped for another science fiction franchise, specifically The Six Million Dollar Man.
According to The Tracking Board, Wahlberg is in negotiations to play the role of the character Steve Austin in the remake with Peter Berg attached to produce and possibly direct. The original television series ran for five seasons on ABC, along with a string of TV movies, and starred Lee Majors in the titular role back in the 1970s. It followed the exploits of an astronaut who was terribly injured in an aircraft crash and rebuilt using bionic parts. These implants gave him enhanced abilities which he used as a secret agent.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumblings of a remake for the Six Million Dollar Man. Back in the 90′s, Kevin Smith wrote a script for a possible remake (along with Fletch Lives) that was eventually reworked into a comic book series called The Bionic Man.
Lee Majors as the bionic Steve Austin
In 2003, Jim Carrey and Todd Phillips were going to go with a comedic take on the reboot that never got off the ground, while another attempt ended in 2006 because of a rights dispute between Universal and Miramax. The television series was based on a novel called Cyborg by Martin Caidin, and while Universal owned the rights to the television show, Miramax owned the rights to make a film based on the novel.
By 2011 the rights disagreement was solved, and Leonardo DiCaprio was attached to star with Bryan Singer directing. That project stalled, as well, which brings us back to Wahlberg and Peter Berg which, I’d like to stress, is still an unconfirmed rumor.
Going over all of the previous attempts, I really do hope this turns out to be true, as Wahlberg would make a great Steve Austin. He and Peter Berg did work nicely together recently on the well received 2013 film The Lone Survivor about a covert Navy SEALs mission who are ambushed in the mountains of Afghanistan.
The big problem right now would be fitting this film into Wahlberg’s schedule, who has six films in the pipeline to be released over the next two years, including Ted 2. Plus he’s likely contracted for the next two Transformers films, as well.
Do you think Mark Wahlberg would make a great Six Million Dollar Man? Let us know in the comments below!
The post Mark Wahlberg Could Be The Six Million Dollar Man appeared first on Doddle.
