Stephen Sommers is negotiating to be brought on to direct the next feature version of TARZAN for Warner Bros. and producer Jerry Weintraub, per VARIETY.
Sommers would also co-write the script with Stuart Beattie. TARZAN has been in development at WB and Weintraub since 2003, when John August was hired to write a script. Guillermo del Toro negotiated two years ago to direct.
Tarzan dates back to Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel TARZAN OF THE APES, written in 1912. Johnny Weismuller personified the man-raised-by-apes character in a string of MGM features in the 1930s.
More recent adaptations include 1984's GREYSTROKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES from WB and Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow's 1998's TARZAN AND THE LOST CITY with Casper Van Dien. Disney produced an animated feature in 1999, featuring songs by Phil Collins. WB produced a short-lived 2003 TARZAN series for the WB Network.
Sommers just wrapped directing G.I. JOE for Paramount, with Beattie writing the final version of the screenplay. Beattie wrote COLLATERAL, contributed to the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN trilogy and co-wrote AUSTRALIA with Baz Luhrmann, out this winter.
