Harrison Ford to star in Cowboys and Aliens

Harrison Ford will star in Jon Favreau‘s upcoming comic book film Cowboys and Aliens. The director confirmed the rumoured casting announcement on his Twitter page earlier this morning.

Latino Review first scooped the fact that Ford had been cast in a “a huge comic book movie to be directed by a director coming off a soon to be released huge comic book movie.” Seeing as Favreau will begin production of Cowboys and Aliens following the release of Iron Man 2, it seemed as if C&A was the likeliest contender.

Following unabashed excitement from almost everyone on the globe, Favreau took to his Twitter page to confirm Ford’s involvement:

It is unknown what role Ford will play in the comic book film, although I tend to assume he will more likely be a cowboy rather than an alien. He will join Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde.

Cowboys and Aliens is based on the comic of the same name by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley (which you can read in full online here). The first draft of the screenplay was penned by Iron Man screenwriters Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus. It has since been rewritten by the fellows behind Star Trek, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, as well as Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof.

Now, Cowboys and Aliens is one comic I have yet to read, so I’ll hand you over to Slashfilm for a proper synopsis. It will hit cinemas July 29th, 2011.

Discuss: Can Ford still ‘bring it’?