Bryan Singer Gets Green Light On 'Jack The Giant Killer'; Wants Aaron Johnson To Star

Aaron Johnson was one of a few actors revealed to be taking meetings to play the titular role in Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Killer back in May, as was Andrew Garfield. Of course, Garfield's going to be a bit busy now, what with him starring in Marc Webb's Spider-Man reboot, so that leaves only Johnson and whoever his competition may be—which is apparently every young male actor working today.Deadline says that the part "has become the role that young actors are circling". Singer, meanwhile, has his eye on Johnson, who in the last two years has starred in Kick-Ass and portrayed John Lennon in Nowhere Boy. Whether or not Singer will get his way remains to be seen, as New Line is meeting with many other actors for the role. It shouldn't be too long before we know for sure who's cast; the film has officially gotten the green light, with production planned to begin in the spring.

The synopsis for Singer's take on the story, described as an "adult look at the Jack and the Beanstalk legend", pitches the film as an amalgamation of the original Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale and a variation of it titled (like the movie) Jack the Giant Killer.

When a princess is kidnapped, a long-standing peace between men and giants becomes threatened, and a young farmer is given an opportunity to lead a dangerous expedition to the giant kingdom to rescue her.

Bright-eyed Aaron Johnson venturing into a world of menacing giants and killing them? That I'd like to see. With Kick-Ass, he spent most of the movie getting beaten halfway to death, so it'd be nice to have him prove his worth as an action star and lay waste to some massive baddies.

What say you, readers? Does the thought of having Aaron Johnson in the lead entice you?

Previously:

The original "Jack and the Beanstalk" fairy tale centered around a boy who exchanged a cow for magical beans. After the beans grew into a gigantic beanstalk, Jack climbed it to find a huge house with a giant living inside it, which Jack then began to pilfer. The story ends with Jack killing the giant in self-defense, kind of. A variation on the story, "Jack the Giant Killer," has Jack venturing into a land of giants and slaying them in increasingly gruesome ways.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) did a rewrite of the 3D fantasy/adventure project. The original script was written by Lost (the indie film, not the TV show) scribe Darren Lemke, with a re-write by Live Free or Die Hard/Race to Witch Mountain writer Mark Bomback. DJ Caruso was originally attached to direct.

McQuarrie shot to fame with his screenplay for The Usual Suspects. He has since reteamed with Bryan Singer on X-Men, Apt Pupil and Valkyrie, and made his directorial debut in 2000 with The Way of the Gun. This project prevented Singer from directing X-Men: First Class.