Director Shawn Levy (NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM) recently opened up about his planned REAL STEEL, a film about a futuristic sport involving giant robots and boxing. Levy describes the sci-fi film, based upon a short story by Richard Matheson (I AM LEGEND), as a “father/son action drama set in the near future, surrounding the sport of robot boxing.”

He confirmed that Hugh Jackman (WOLVERINE) is in the front running to star in the film. Jackman would play a “former boxer who can therefore no longer do the only thing he was ever good at and has to make his way in this new world,” Levy went on about the character in saying “It’s faithful to the story in that that story was very much about a down-on-his-luck, slightly desperate journeyman who works in this robot boxing sport and who is desperately needing redemption and one last shot. The movie is more ROCKY than TRANSFORMERS.”

Interestingly enough, TRANSFORMERS producer Steven Spielberg is also overseeing REAL STEAL. “When I sat down with Steven, I had a very, very specific vision of this movie, one that really puts the emphasis on the story and the sports-movie aspect as much as on the machinery,” Levy said. “REAL STEEL is my first non-comedy. I will likely come back to comedy. It’s certainly been very, very good to me. But like anyone who does anything, freshness and new experience is what keeps you interested. So when Steven called and said, ‘Hey, you want to do this thing?’ I was like, ‘Hell yeah, I’m looking for a different experience.’”

Let’s just hope this is a different experience that Levy can handle, seeing as how this Rock Em’ Sock Em’ robots-esque film sounds pretty epic and potentially awesome. I want to believe in the guy, but with him being the man responsible for bringing us JUST MARRIED, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, THE PINK PANTHER, and the upcoming DATE NIGHT, it worries me that he may not have the nuts, bolts, and other necessary parts for the job.

Source Sci-Fi Wire