Robert Zemeckis To Develop And Possibly Direct Barefoot Bandit Movie 'Taking Flight'

Robert Zemeckis has spent most of the past decade working on mo-cap animated films, but now that he's back in the live-action realm he's wasting no time snapping up new projects. As his next film Flight prepares to land in theaters, he's circling a couple of projects including the Ghostbusters-esque Charles Fort. He's also said to be eyeing Taking Flight: The Hunt for a Young Outlaw, based on the true story of the teenaged Barefoot Bandit. More details after the jump.

The Barefoot Bandit, whose real name is Colton Harris-Moore, earned his nickname for committing some of his crimes without shoes. In one case, he even left behind chalk drawings of footprints and the word "Cya" after a theft in the Bahamas. Over the course of about two years, he was involved in approximately 100 thefts, of bikes, cars, boats, and even small aircrafts, and developed a following as a modern-day folk hero. Harris-Moore was captured in 2010, and was sentenced earlier this year to six and a half years in prison.

Harris-Moore's story, which has been compared to the fact-based movie Catch Me If You Can, seems tailor-made for a big-screen adaptation. While Taking Flight is a bit unusual for Zemeckis, who generally tends toward more family-friendly projects, we're just excited to see the director tackling interesting projects that don't involve Uncanny Valley mo-cap.