Actor Kellan Lutz has apparently met with McG for Masters of the Universe, the first new news on the project since it was rumored that McG would take over as director.
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The Twilight actor recently starred in one of two box office disappointments about Hercules — which means that if he were to land the He-Man role in Masters of the Universe, his career path would go, roughly, “lost an armwrestle to Kristen Stewart,” “played Hercules,” “played He-Man.”
The screenplay for the film was being written by Jeff Wadlow, who was rumored to direct it — but then he took on Kick-Ass 2 and was developing X-Factor, so McG’s was the first big name that came up after it appeared Wadlow was more or less taking himself out of the running. The latest version of the Masters of the Universe script comes from the team of Alex Litvak and Mike Finch.
Sony Pictures and Escape Artists were reportedly in talks to bring McG in to direct as of January.
The film will focus on the conflict between the hero He-Man, secretly Prince Adam of Eternia, and the villain Skeletor. The original animated series proved popular to spin off into a spinoff, She-Ra, about Adam’s cousin, who also transformed into a sword-wielding warrior.
The fantasy toy line was popularized by an accompanying cartoon. Masters of the Universe was first adapted to film in 1987, with Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor.
McG’s credits include a previous Sony reboot, Chalie’s Angels, as well as films like We Are Marshall and Terminator: Salvation. He’s also done a good deal of TV work, including work on The Mysteries of Laura and Chuck. He directed the pilot of the forthcoming Lethal Weapon TV series, set to debut in the fall.
