He-Man News

Justin Marks is the latest writer to try his hand at a He-Man movie. He recently talked about the story line for it:

"We're talking about the He-Man mythology. So what we're talking about doing, in the same way as Batman Begins, we're going back to the original thing, let's build it from the ground up again. How can we find our way in? How can we jump into Adam's life at an interesting point where new audiences will respect him?

It's an Adam origin story, and it's a Skeletor origin story. We want to see where both of them come from and how they got that way. If we don't see the humanity and the truth in what Skeletor's trying to do, then the story's not compelling."

As for who will play He-Man? Well, you can count out The Rock or Triple H.

‘'Let me just say we don't want wreslters. [Laughs] I'm not saying he should be He-Man, but Michael Biehn is my all-time favorite actor. You go to Hicks or Kyle Reese, and James Cameron created that action hero type, and I feel like I always write with the mindset of that type of hero who doesn't exist these days.

He's that guy who, if he took a weapon and said, "Follow me," I'd be right behind him.'"

Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver are working with Mattel to turn "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" into a live-action film.

Justin Marks is set to write the script. Silver will produce.

The deal, which is contingent on Mattel formally approving an outline for the project, is another example of Hollywood overhauling a 1980s-era pop-culture touchstone in the hopes of seeding a tentpole pic. The sale comes just a few weeks before the July preem of DreamWorks' Michael Bay-directed Transformers, which began as an '80s animated series and toy line.

He-Man was born as a Mattel action figure, and the toymaker created an animated series in hopes of selling dolls. The series became a cult favorite, but the brand was hardly helped by its first bigscreen incarnation, the campy 1987 flop Masters of the Universe that starred Dolph Lundgren as the title character and Frank Langella as his nemesis Skeletor.

The toymaker, which now licenses "He-Man" for high-end merchandise sold to hardcore collectors, has been wary of going Hollywood again. An attempt by Fox 2000 to make another movie, this time with director John Woo, ended in futility as the toymaker didn't spark to the screen plans.

For Mattel, the stakes are potentially high as success could mean an entire relaunch of a toy line.

The franchise has been reimagined by the producer and the writers and pitched to Mattel as a classic good vs. evil battle, using the kind of visual effects strategy employed in 300. A warrior is touted as the last hope of a magical land called Eternia, which is being ravaged by technology and the evil Skeletor.