“Horton Hears A Who” director Jimmy Hayward has been announced to direct the big-screen adaptation of “Jonah Hex”, the DC title about the scarred bounty hunter cowboy, which Josh Brolin is attached to star in as the titular gray-clad character.

The relatively small title has been rumored to hit the silver screen since 1970, though a lawsuit over the rights to the character has complicated such an adaptation from ever seeing the light until recently when talks of the project gaining momentum surfaced in 2008, as well as of Brolin’s involvement with the picture.

Hayward began his career as an animator on the Canadian TV series “ReBoot” before moving to Pixar, where he has worked on films such as “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2”, “A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters, Inc.” and “Finding Nemo.” “Horton Hears A Who” was Hayward’s directorial debut.

Jonah Hex first premiered in 1972 in DC’s “All-Star Western” and was created by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga. The character has appeared in his own titles and guest-starring in other DC and Vertigo books since then in adventures combining the Western genre and bizarre sci-fi/horror elements. He is best known for his distinctive scarring on the right side of his face, which he gained from Apaches who pressed a burning tomahawk into his face to mark him for a “dishonorable” kill during a duel.

The Jonah Hex film has a tentative release date of 2010.

Stay tuned to Shockya.com for more on Hex and other DC Comics movie news.

By Costa Koutsoutis, (Source: The Hollywood Reporter)