Steve Carell & James Gandolfini’s ‘The Bone Men’ Becomes ‘Bone Wars,’ Heads To HBO

Even though the result of their first collaboration, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,” wasn’t so incredible, it seems the unlikely pairing of gritty character actor James Gandolfini and comic lead Steve Carell will continue beyond the magician comedy. Last fall, it was reported the duo were putting together a paleontology comedy (they really seem to love the high concepts). That project has now found a home, and a few plot details have surfaced.

Deadline reports that HBO Films has snapped up the project, which has changed titles from “The Bone Men” to “Bone Wars,” but somehow, it still makes us giggle immaturely. The premise is pretty decent though: Gandolfini would play Othniel Charles Marsh of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale and Carell would portray Edward Drinker Cope of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, in the true story of their rivalry as both men led an early wave of dinosaur discovery.

But this is all a long way off. A writer needs to be found to even get a script going, so this project could be developing for a while. Still, it’s the sort of original idea that cable networks are doing now instead of major movie studios, and it’s interesting to see these two guys eager to work together again. And we’ll be just as curious to see what they come up with.