‘Zombieland’ Director Bringing ‘Archer and Armstrong’ Graphic Novel to the Big Screen
Following recent news of Sony’s plans for a film adaptation based on Bloodshot (with the screenwriter of Arrival), comes word that another property from Valiant Entertainment has been set for a big screen adaptation: Ruben Fleischer, the director of Zombieland, has signed on to helm a film based on comic-book series Archer & Armstrong, which centers on a mismatched pair of heroes who develop an unlikely friendship.
THR reports that Fleischer will direct the film adaptation of Archer & Armstrong, with Terry Rossio (the Pirates of the Caribbean series) set to write the screenplay. The comic was created by Jim Shooter (former editor-in-chief at Marvel), Barry Windsor-Smith (Weapon X) and Bob Layton, the former Marvel Comics scribe who co-founded Valiant with Shooter. Archer & Armstrong first debuted in 1992 and tells the story of 18-year-old Obadiah Archer, who has spent his entire life training to take down Armstrong, an immortal warrior who lives a pretty hard lifestyle. When the two finally come face to face, they find that they have some very surprising things in common.
The project is being developed by Fleischer and Rossio with Valiant Entertainment before they shop it around to potential studios. Fleischer recently directed two episodes of Santa Clarita Diet for Netflix, and remains attached to the long-developing Zombieland sequel. In addition to working on the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Rossio is overseeing the writers room for Legendary’s King Kong and Godzilla franchise.