Who directs He-Man?…

When I was a boy there were two loves: Transformers and He-Man (OK, you can throw in stolen copies of Playboy too…). Now that I’ve lived long enough to see a live-action TRANSFORMERS movie but I still need that HE-MAN movie (Dolph Lundgren only partly satiated my need). The project has been in development for what seems like forever but now we’re taking a big step forward as Warner Bros. has set John Stevenson to direct. Who is John Stevenson you ask? He directed KUNG FU PANDA and would be making his feature directorial debut with HE-MAN. Animation directors must be the hot new thing with the directors of HORTON HEARS A WHO and WALL-E all set to make their live-action directing debuts as well.

Stevenson admits he wasn’t exactly hot on the idea when presented with the gig but warmed up when he met the executives from Mattel who escorted him into a top secret lair where they keep all their He-Man mythology. It was that that Stevenson said he started to get it and quickly signed on to the gig. Joel Silver will be producing the film, which currently has a script by Justin Marks (though that very likely will be rewritten under Stevenson’s direction). Frankly I like the signing and I think Stevenson showed off some considerable action chops with PANDA (even though the action was a panda fighting a tiger). And it’s a much better choice than the previously attached John Woo…. No start or release date was announced but this project is a “big priority” for both Mattel and Warner Bros.