Cowboys & Aliens – RDJ pulls out

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. won’t be reteaming with director Jon Favreau for the upcoming Dreamworks’ produced Cowboys & Aliens. The is an adaptation of the Platinum Studios Comics graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley.

The sci-fi Western centres on the events which follow an extraterrestrial species landing in Arizona in the mid-1800s. The invading aliens plan to quash the Wild West and enslave humanity, but the cowboys and native Apache have other ideas.

Transformers and Star Trek  scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have written the script alongside Damon Lindelof, which Favreau is looking to begin shooting on later this year. The movie is currently pencilled in for a summer 2011 release.