Aspen on Megan Fox/Fathom Rumors - "No Comment... but...

The Internet movie community lit up with one of its favorite past-times this past week - a juicy new comic book movie casting rumor. Current Maxim/GQ cover girl Megan Fox was tied to a big-screen version of the late Michael Turner's signature Aspen Comics property Fathom.

According to an unconfirmed report at the movie news website IESB.net, a live-action adaptation, that has been stalled in "production hell" since first being optioned in the late 90's as an animated feature by Fox Animation, and then optioned again as a live-action feature in 2001 by James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment and 20th Century Fox, has been revived at the "genre" division of Fox – Fox Atomic, and that The Transformers co-star has been signed to play the lead and writers are being sought.

No confirmation or clarity on the rumor has come from the Hollywood trades thus far, but Newsarama checked in this week with Aspen Comics' President Frank Mastromauro for the official word out of their camp. While Mastromauro could not confirm (or deny) the rumors, or respond to specific questions regarding casting, his response certainly suggests a Fathom feature is indeed alive and well and more information should be forthcoming soon.

Said the Aspen President, "Unfortunately, most of my answer would be ‘no comment’ at the moment, since we’re still working out some things in regards to the movie and I can’t go into detail on anything. However, I will give you a little bit of background info.

"Last summer [at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con during our panel) when Mike [Turner] commented about the movie not really happening anymore, things changed shortly after. Even though not much was going on with it, there was still a lot of interest in the property. After meeting a few great people that had the same passion for the project as we did, things started to turn again. We had several different meetings and everything looked to be going well, but then Mike wound up getting sick this past February.

"While he was ill, it was tough to keep things moving at the pace we had before. However, everyone involved in the project understood and were completely supportive during that time. After Mike’s passing , it took me quite a while to get focused on work again, but the potential for a Fathom movie was still there. So now here we are, and after several months of being back at work and a bunch of rumors swirling, look for some official info on the Fathom movie coming soon!"

The casting of Fox would certainly be considered a coup for a potential production. The actress has emerged from her Transformers turn with both genre cred and perhaps the industry's most sought-after It-Girl of the moment status. Fox also bears a more-than-suitable physical resemblance to the titular aquatic character, who would almost certainly spend a large amount of screen-time in "bathing attire."

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