The live-action film version of the popular anime/manga/game franchise 'Robotech' has a new writer, according to sources close to the project.
Comics2Film at Mania.com can exclusively reveal that award-winning novelist and UK TV writer Tom Rob Smith has taken over writing duties on the project.
'Robotech' has been in development as a film since 2007, with Tobey Maguire, Akiva Goldsman ('Jonah Hex'), Charles Roven ('The Dark Knight') and Jason Netter ('Wanted') among the producers on the project. Maguire is rumored to be starring the in the movie as well.
Smith is best known for his 2008 breakout novel "Child 44", about a series of child murders in Russia circa 1950. The book won several awards and the film rights were quickly snapped up as a vehicle for Ridley Scott to direct. His follow-up book, "The Secret Speech" was released last month.
Although he's a relative newcomer to Hollywood, our sources tell us that Smith's previous writing impressed the 'Robotech' filmmakers. "He had a very clear vision for the material that seemed to fit the collective group's vision for the property," a source close to the project said.
Previous drafts of the 'Robotech' script have been penned by Lawrence Kasdan and Alfred Gough & Miles Millar.