DJ Caruso to Helm I AM NUMBER FOUR

Director DJ Caruso is lining them up and knocking them down one by one, and, next up, he is taking them on one by one by one by one.   See what I did there?   According to The Hollywood Reporter, the DISTURBIA and EAGLE EYE helmer has signed on to direct the adaptation of Joby Hughes and James Frey’s upcoming, young adult, sci-fi book, I AM NUMBER FOUR.   The project has been set up at DreamWorks, where the marriage between the studio and Caruso has led to some top-notch, Hollywood movie making in recent years.

Written by SMALLVILLE creators Miles Millar and Al Gough, I AM NUMBER FOUR centers on a small band of aliens who escape from their home planet just before it is destroyed.   On Earth, they take the form of humans and, soon, learn they are being hunted by an other worldly being bent on their extinction.

If you ask me, this sounds like perfect fodder for the WB crowd, and, with Millar and Gough adapting the screenplay, you might think just that.   Caruso, on the other hand, brings a certain level of firmness to the project.   While not all of his films are the best at what they do, they all bring something new to the film making world, and, I am sure, I AM NUMBER FOUR, won’t be an exception.

DreamWorks purchased the rights to the book, which will be the first of a series of six, in June with Michael Bay stepping in as producer.   He was rumored at the time to be directing the film, and he will stay on as the film’s producer.   No word yet on whether this will be Caruso’s next project, or if he is moving to THE ART OF MAKING MONEY, Y: THE LAST MAN, or DEAD SPACE first.