Undaunted by the public indifference to the last Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation starring a brooding shirtless guy, Warner Bros. has signed Harry Potter director David Yates to head up its long-in-development new take on Tarzan—the jungle king whose primitive sense of right and wrong, combined with his ability to just smash things he doesn’t like, remains so alluring in an era of reading about reboots on our laptops. Yates will take over the project that was previously attached as a potential trilogy to Hustle And Flow director Craig Brewer, heading up a new Tarzan that will bring the oft-filmed character into the 21st century. But, you know, in a more blockbuster-y way than that 3-D motion-captured Tarzan with Kellan Lutz.
Hiring Yates certainly speaks to Warner Bros.’ high hopes, as does the studio’s short list of potential Tarzans, which so far includes guys who will never do it such as Man Of Steel’s Henry Cavill and Tom Hardy, as well as other, more likely possibilities such as True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgård and Sons Of Anarchy’s Charlie Hunnam. Complicating Yates' decision, each actor is confirmed to have a torso, making the choice a difficult one.