David Yates To Take On Tarzan, Tom Hardy Eyed For Lead Role

Warner Brothers’ live action Tarzan has been in development for a while now and today, the studio has snagged David Yates for the director’s chair.

Of course, Yates is most well known for his work on the Harry Potter franchise and obviously, that’s the reason that Warner Bros. wants him on Tarzan. The man made them a ton of money with his Harry Potter films, so it would make sense that they’d want him in the driver’s seat for another big franchise.

Furthermore, Yates has already started taking meetings with various actors who he has his eye on for the lead role. Right now, Tom Hardy is said to be the frontrunner but the director has also been talking with Henry Cavill, Charlie Hunnam and Alexander Skarsgard. Not a bad batch of talent if you ask me.

It’s nice to see everything coming together on this one as Warner Bros. has been trying to get Tarzan off the ground for a while now. For those who don’t know, there’s actually two projects currently in development based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s character, this one, that once had Craig Brewer attached and then there’s also a motion cap version brewing about that stars Kellan Lutz.

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that the last time one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s characters made it to the big screen, it resulted in John Carter, which was an absolute disaster. Hopefully Tarzan will fare better as I do think that it would make for a great franchise for the studio. That being said, it’s still far too early to tell how this project will do.

Sure, Yates is a capable director but so was Andrew Stanton, and we all know what a mess he made of John Carter. So, as of now, we’ll have to wait and see. But, if the director can snag someone like Tom Hardy for the lead role, then we may be in for a treat.

What do you think? Are audiences ready for a live action Tarzan film?