Greatest American Hero filming in July!

[Brian Damage]

They've been trying to get a “Greatest American Hero” up for, well, longer than Alan Tudyk's been talking up a “Serenity” sequel. Today, we got confirmed that the film version of the classic 80s TV series is finally on track for a July start.

A casting call is being e-blasted around Tinseltown's top agents at the moment, alerting interested parties that the film's director, Stephen Herek (“Dead Like Me”, “The Mighty Ducks”) is in need of a Ralph Hinkley (played in the series by William Katt) and Bill Maxwell (played in the series by Robert Culp).

Penned by Chris Matheson and Ryan Rowe, “Hero” is based on the classic TV show about Ralph Hinkley, a high school teacher. He is a good, decent, likeable guy who is selected by aliens to defend the Earth against Harvey Lundy, a remarkably dislikeable high school teacher who is the representative of a group of intergalactic strip-miners. But he doesn't have to fight Lundy alone - he's got a superhero suit that gives him super powers.

The casting breakdown for Hinkley says he's “29-39, an all-around good guy, with boyish handsome good looks, smart, decent, honorable and resilient, Ralph is a high school history teacher in Tempe, Arizona, a bachelor who hasn't yet found the right girl. Selected by a bunch of aliens as the perfect hero to champion the rights of humankind against an evil nemesis, Ralph gets a superhero suit and a rather gruff squire in the form of FBI agent Bill Maxwell - neither of which yield easily to his control. Stuck inside the suit while awaiting for a duel-to-the-death challenge from his sinister opponent, Harve Lundy, Ralph proves to be honest, upright, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent as he prepares himself to do or die, without losing his Eagle Scout-ish honor or his suit in the process. Oh, and he gets a girlfriend along the way.”

Producers want “names” for the roles of Hinkley and Maxwell.

The film will shoot in Arizona.

[TJL]

Boy oh boy is that a bad idea.