Favreau, Downey reteam for "Cowboys"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. are bringing their iron-clad collaboration to another comic-book property, "Cowboys & Aliens."

Downey has been attached to the DreamWorks/Universal project since last summer, when "Iron Man" co-screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby were working on the adaptation of the sci-fi Western graphic novel.

Now "Iron Man" director Favreau has joined the project, making "Cowboys" his next helming gig.

"Cowboys & Aliens," a Platinum Studios Comics graphic novel by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, explores what would happen if the traditional Old West enemies -- cowboys and Native Americans -- found the prairie attacked by aliens in mid-1800s Arizona.

Long in development, the "Aliens" project originally was set up at Universal and DreamWorks in 1997 with Steve Oedekerk writing and directing. It later moved to Columbia, with "Sahara" screenwriters Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Donnelly writing.

In the fall, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who are executive producers on the project, took over screenwriting duties, along with "Lost" executive producer Damon Lindelof.

The Favreau-Downey-Kurtzman-Orci-Lindelof nexus represents the current nucleus of geek-genre pop culture. Kurtzman and Orci recently delivered the sci-fi megahits "Star Trek" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," Lindelof maintains his control over TV sensation "Lost," and Favreau and Downey will serve up another highly anticipated "Iron Man" saga next year, with "Iron Man 2" slated for a May release.

As an actor, Favreau will next appear in the comedy "Couples Retreat," which he co-wrote.

(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)