Variety is reporting that Josh Brolin (No Country for All Men, W), one of the hottest (and most respected) actors in Hollywood, is in talks to star as Jonah Hex in a Warner Bros. film based on the DC Comics character.  Created in the 1970s by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga, Jonah Hex was a gunslinger and a bounty hunter, who was also a veteran of the Confederate army.  Sold into slavery to the Apaches by his father in exchange for safe passage, the right side of Jonah’s face was disfigured by a red hot tomahawk after a duel with a chief’s son.

According to Variety, Crank writer-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who have been working on the film for over a year, have written a script that the studio likes and will direct the movie (see “Crank Team Targets Jonah Hex”).  Variety did not indicate whether the movie’s Jonah Hex would resemble the violent Eastwood/Spaghetti Western hero of the Michael Fleisher-penned comics of 1970s and 1980s, the western-horror hero in the 1990s Vertigo Jonah Hex miniseries, which were written by Joe R. Lansdale and drawn by Tim Truman, or the most recent DC Jonah Hex series created by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti.  Whatever tack they take, having a top flight actor like Brolin involved should ensure that the Jonah Hex film won’t be considered a “B” movie by the studio or the critics.