They’re still in the midst of their second “Iron Man” movie, but Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. have officially attached themselves as director and star, respectively, of the Dreamworks movie “Cowboys and Aliens”. Yeeeeeeeeehaw!!!

Downey has been attached to “Cowboys” since last year, but this is Favreau’s first publicly announced involvement in the project.

Set in mid-1800s Arizona, “Cowboys and Aliens”, as per the title, is a sci-fi Western that will explore what happens when aliens show up in their fancy flying saucers in the Old West, only to encounter some tougher than expected hombres in the local denizens, i.e. the cowboys and Native Americans. Hilary, and over-the-top sci-fi action, one presumes, ensue.

THR’s The Heat Vision Blog reports the attachment of the two uber geek stars to the film, which will be based on the Platinum Comics comic book (and yes, they’re comic books, they’re not graphic novels) of the same name by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley. Producers/writers on the movie include “Transformers” and “Star Trek” guys Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, and Lost producer Damon Lindelof.

Besides “Cowboys and Aliens”, the team of Kurtzman and Orci also have “Atlantis Rising”, another Platinum Comics property at Dreamworks, and are also actively developing that title as well, with director Len Wiseman (the “Underworld” movies) and writer Joby Harold attached.

A panel from Cowboys and Aliens. One presumes the Dreamworks version will look less B-movie campish.