As Mark Wahlberg promotes his new movie THE FAMILUY PLAN, the inevitable question comes up about the Six Million, or in this case, Billion, Dollar Man that Wahlberg has been talking about wanting to make since 2014!
When asked he says: “You know what, I think there is finally hope for that to happen. And I think it’s kind of actually a lot to do with this movie, because hopefully Skydance will have the rights, if not fully buttoned up now, very soon, and we’ll fast track that movie to get made. So, I’m still not out of the fight, I’m still grinding every day to get it made. You know, its tough to get certain things made it’s very difficult, it was an uphill battle, but I think certain ones are worth just seeing through to the end.”
The Six Billion Dollar Man has gone through several directors over the years, including Wahlberg’s frequent collaborator Peter Berg and Bumblebee director Travis Knight. The reboot is now due to be helmed by Skydance Media CEO David Ellison. Though Ellison does not have much experience as a director, as a producer, he has been on board numerous action movies, including Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, and the huge blockbuster success that is Top Gun: Maverick.
Whilst his production credits look great, you have to ask does make him a suitable director for what will presumably be looked at as a forthcoming franchise? I’d rather have a tried and tested director, even one who has just done a few few low budget movies, in the director chair. I’m kind of disappointed we have lost Travis Knight as director, at least we know what he was capable of having seen Bumblebee.
Wahlberg goes on: “I mean, well it is now. We had the rights, and we were trying to get the script right at Warners and then, you know, people have the TV rights, you have the estate, and then you have, I think Universal had the international, and lots of things so now to kind of bring it out free and clear, to be able to kind of work out all those different issues and then be able to start fresh with a new writer at Skydance. But I’m excited because nobody does action better than David and everybody, and Dana (Goldberg) and those guys at Skydance, so I couldn’t be more excited about the possibility.”
Will Lee Majors be in the big screen adaption? Wahlberg hopes so. He told Parade magazine: “I’ve spoken to Lee on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, most of the time I had to call Lee and tell him, ‘Well, it’s not happening yet but we’re not giving up hope.'”
Asked if he will appear in the movie, he said: “We would love that, and I know he would love that. We’ve just got to make sure that the timing and everything works out, but we’re pursuing that.”
Lee said earlier this year he would like to make a cameo if the film happens.
He told The Daily Mirror newspaper: “I know Mark Wahlberg is trying to get ‘The Six Billion Dollar Man’ movie made, it has been put back several times, but if they asked me to take a role in that, sure, why not? I like Mark Wahlberg, he’s a good kid!”