What appears to be the new golden team around Hollywood is director Jon Favreau and actor Robert Downey Jr. Although they only have the successful Iron Man in common as of yet, the two reunited to make Iron Man II and apparently enjoy working with each other so much that they have now jumped aboard another project as a team, so reports The Hollywood Reporter’s new blog Heat Vision.

So what will Favreau and Downey Jr. reunite on? Apparently it’ll be another comic book adaption, albeit not one as well known as Marvel Comics’ Iron Man. The name’s Cowboys & Aliens, and it’s about the crazy scenario of what would happen if aliens invaded Arizona in the mid-1800’s during the ongoing rivalry between the classic wild west enemies of cowboys and Indians. The project is being executive produced and scripted by Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci along with Lost exec Damon Lindelof who’ll also write.

The project has actually been on/off for the last 12 years, just now seriously taking off. Downey Jr. has also been attached as the lead for quite some time, since last summer actually, with Favreau being the new one on the team taking up the director’s chair. The one originally meant to both write and direct back in ‘97 was Barnyard director Steve Oedekerk.

All in all this sounds like a kickass project that I certainly hope will come to fruition. The whole wacky concept of aliens invading the old west isn’t as original as one might think though. For one I can remember this shitty looking made-for-TV movie with Buffy The Vampire Slayer actor James Marsters playing the lead. Check out a clip from the film, where Marsters is about to be hanged when a big weird robot appears, after the jump.

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