Hugh Jackman Boxing in ‘Real Steel’

Hugh Jackman is in discussions to join Real Steel, a futuristic boxing movie for DreamWorks.  Shawn Levy took over the director’s chair after Peter Berg left for Universal’s Battleship movie.

The plot centers on a fighter who becomes a boxing promoter when the sport switches from human contenders to robots.  According to Variety, he then discovers an old, discarded bot who battles his way to the top.  It’s just like Rocky, only with robots… and Hugh Jackman.

The character also discovers he has a 13-year-old son, and I’m not entirely certain on this, but I’m pretty sure they bond.  Another “man finds out he has a kid” story?  I think we’ve all been there, am I right guys?

The script has been re-written several times, but it was originally based on a short story by Richard Matheson, who wrote “Button, Button” (which became Richard Kelly’s latest film, The Box) and I Am Legend.  He also penned Duel, the first feature of this film’s executive producer, Steven Spielberg.

Levy, best known for the Night at the Museum movies, just completed Date Night with Tina Fey and Steve Carell.  Jackman is on Broadway with Daniel Craig in “A Steady Rain,” and if you haven’t heard he got pretty angry at a recent show when a cell phone went off.