No, Steve Austin fans, that’s not a typo. Given the current economy, it makes sense that the Six Million Dollar Man’s cyborg tech would cost billions these days, and that’s the price tag title for the new take on the story, with Mark Wahlberg and his Lone Survivor director Peter Berg attached to make **The Six Billion Dollar Man.
This is a TV-to-film transition that has been stuck in development limbo for years as directors, writers, stars and even concepts have come and gone ranging from all action to a comedy reboot. Exactly how Dimension Films plans to exploit the idea is anyone’s guess at this point, because the company is wiping the script slate clean and starting fresh.
From the sounds of it, Wahlberg and Berg are planning a more straightforward drama, based on Martin Caidin’s 1972 tome Cyborg, which also fuelled the Lee Majors-starring 1970s Six Million Dollar Man TV series. Wahlberg will be Austin, a former astronaut who barely survives a horrific experimental plane crash. To save his life, he is given high-tech enhancements by scientists who replace his legs, his right arm and left eye with bionic systems. Thus gifted super-human abilities, he’s drafted in to work for the government as a secret agent.
Writers are being invited to pitch now with the intention of shooting next year for a proposed 2016 release. Wahlberg will next be seen in The Gambler, due out on a date to be confirmed in December, and has also signed on for the new comedy **Daddy’s Home alongside his Other Guys co-star Will Ferrell.