New hires suggest Taylor Lautner will try to stretch on ‘Stretch’

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Back in February we told you that ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ director Rob Letterman was likely to come aboard to direct the Taylor Lautner vehicle ‘Stretch Armstrong.’ Today, Universal, which along with Habsro and Imagine is making the film, confirmed that Letterman is now officially on board for the spring 2012 release.
The studio also added a bit of news: Nicholas Stoller, the Judd Apatow protege who directed the Apatow-esque comedies ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ and the upcoming ‘Get Him to the Greek,’ will be doing a pass on the script. (Steve Oedekerk, of ‘Bruce Almighty’ fame, had written a previous draft.)

That move suggests the studio’s growing confidence in Stoller, even before the Russell Brand- and Jonah Hill-starring ‘Greek’ hits theaters this June (it helps that Stoller and Letterman worked together on the upcoming ‘Gulliver’s Travels’) . But along with the initial Oedekerk hire, it also indicates that the studio wants plenty of comedy in ‘Armstrong,’ a movie based on an action figure. Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers’ this will not be.
If that’s the case, Lautner won’t be doing what we best know him for — whispering sweet nothings into Kristen Stewart’s ear or fighting off sallow vampires — but instead will be leaping over tall buildings and (sometimes) joking it up in the manner of Jonah Hill. We already can’t wait for the spring of 2012.

— Steven Zeitchik