Taylor Kitsch sets sail on Battleship

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE star Taylor Kitsch will try to stop aliens from sinking his battleship with a starring role in the upcoming sci-fi action flick BATTLESHIP. Still to be cast are a American female sailor and a Japanese commander. Peter Berg is directing the film, which is based on the popular board game and will involve a group of Naval sailors responsible for fighting off an alien invasion.

Kitsch will play Hopper, the Naval officer who’s at the forefront of our battle with the incoming alien threat. You might remember that Jeremy Renner was rumored to be starring in the film back in February. As it turns out scheduling conflicts prevented him from taking a role in both this film and PT Anderson’s untitled Scientology project.

Kitsch is currently filming another sci-fi/adventure tale, Disney’s JOHN CARTER OF MARS with Andrew Stanton (WALL-E) making his live-action directorial debut.

Production on BATTLESHIP is expected to begin later this year with a May 2012 release planned.