Doug Liman Hired to Direct THE THREE MUSKETEERS for Warner Bros.

Director Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) has signed on to helm Warner Bros’ 3D adaptation of The Three Musketeers.  Liman entered negotiations with the studio back at the beginning of April.  He’s also attached to direct a film about the Attica Uprising, and was reportedly circling a remake of the Michael Caine-Shirley MacLaine caper comedy Gambit.

Liman’s Musketeers will be going up against Paul W.S. Anderson’s (Death Race) adaptation, which is being shot in 3D.  Liman’s version of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel will be a “re-invention” along the lines of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes.  Unsurprisingly, Lionel Wigram, who is producing Liman’s Musketeers, was also a producer on Holmes.  Wigram is also planning to “re-invent” Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in the same anachronistic, modern-feel take on the 19th century tales.  Variety reports that Warner Bros. is fast-tracking Three Musketeers to begin shooting this fall.