Wahlberg is Steve Austin: B is for Bionic - and Billion!

Mark Wahlberg will re-team with his Lone Survivor director Peter Berg in the role of Steve Austin, the world's first bionic man, The Weinstein Company has re-titled TV's The Six Million Dollar Man into the adjusted-for-inflation Six Billion Dollar Man. This is one of those projects that's been in development for years. Universal had a screenplay working in 1995 from Kevin Smith, who went on to adapt it into an ongoing title at Dynamite Comics. Then in 2004, Jim Carrey attempted to position a more comedic take on the franchise, which failed to materialize.

Berg is an interesting choice as director, with plenty of action films on his CV, including Hancock and Battleship. How Berg and Wahlberg approach Six Million is the big question. Will they be tempted to take the material in a more comedic, campy tone? Will their respective Hancock and Ted experiences bleed into Steve Austin? Lone Survivor was deadly serious. The hope is that any humor (which admittedly may be hard to avoid) will be minimal, and in support of a straight-up action approach. "Reinventing" Steve Austin a la 21 Jump Street is the wrong way to go.

The original novels (Cyborg being the first) and the first few seasons of the series were fairly sober action adventure. Steve Austin is a test pilot, horribly injured in the crash of an experimental plane, who wakes up missing both legs, and arm and one eye. He's refitted with advanced bionic components giving him superior strength and speed, the co-pay for which involves being a special agent for the government. It's always been a great premise, and Wahlberg has been looking for an action franchise that doesn't leave him playing second fiddle to Optimus Prime.

If Berg and Wahlberg can take a James Bond approach with Six Billion, and infuse enough humor to make Austin a likable character, while delivering slam-bang action, Steve Austin may well have a second life beyond his days as a seventies pop culture icon.

Now who's going to play Oscar Goldman?