Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman have got to be two of the most popular writers in Hollywood right now. Like, love or hate their work, as script writers they have turned into a very hot commodity and are quickly becoming the “go-to” guys for sci-fi scripts. With projects like Star Trek 2, Cowboys & Aliens, View-Master and multiple Fringe episodes on their plate, they have no shortage of work (which in this economy is a good thing).

Recently the great guys and gals at Collider were able to talk to Orci and Kurtzman and they managed wrangle some really good information from them in what turned out to be a lengthy interview. We’ve already discussed the parts about Star Trek 2 and their decision NOT to be involved with Transformers 3, which they confirmed during this same interview. You check out the entire interview here, but I’ll go through some of the highlights as they talk about  Cowboys & Aliens, and a once popular toy, View-Master.

We’ve been talking about Robert Downey Jr’s possible attachment to Cowboys and Aliens for quite a while. However, it now looks like Downey Jr’s Iron Man director, Jon Favreau, is trying to lasso the directors chair for the film, and if he signs up then it looks like Iron Man himself is all but locked for the picture.

The concept of the film in question is simple – Cowboys versus Aliens. If that doesn’t rock your boat, then it’s time to stop reading! 

This week:

Another actor takes a bite out of Twilight’s Eclipse; we have an update on Cowboys and Aliens; Colin Farrell + Mermaids= Ondine, Zac Efron finds a mother and David Mamet gets Frank.

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1. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse keeps adding cast members: Jack Huston and Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) have both joined the cast of the teenage vampire flick.

In the Wrap Up this Week:

The box office is UP; Robert Downey Jr might still saddle up for Cowboys and Aliens; Lucy beats Nicole Kidman to the Punch; Natalie Portman, Danny McBride and James Franco salute Your Highness; Seann William Scott and Adam Brody are A Couple of Dicks and Chevy Chase dips his toes in the Hot Tub Time Machine and he may return as Fletch.

It looks like everybody’s favorite Iron Man is keeping his hand in the big budget Action-Adventure arena. Robert Downey Jr. is in negotiations to star in Cowboys and Aliens, a Sci-Fi / Western in which a battle between the Apache and Western settlers is interrupted by an alien spaceship crashing in the Old West.

Talk about high concept!

The film is based on a graphic novel idea by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley. DreamWorks and Universal hope that the Brian Grazer and Ron Howard produced film will be a summer tent-pole film for 2010.

But wait. Isn’t Iron Man 2 set for release that year? Isn’t Downey Jr. signed to play Tony Stark in the second film in the franchise?

What’s going on?