Jim Carrey is to play the lead role in a movie version of cult TV classic The Six Million Dollar Man.

Carrey will play bionic hero Steve Austin, the role played by Lee Majors in the television series.

Director Todd Phillips, who's just completed another 1970s TV-inspired movie, Starsky and Hutch, will take the helm.

With Carrey in the lead and Todd Phillips directing, the movie has been repositioned as a comedy-action movie spoof.

Dimension Films, which owns the rights to Martin Caidin's novel Cyborg, will co-produce the movie with Universal, who own the rights to the TV series.

"The teaming of Jim and Todd is the perfect creative combination to launch the franchise," Dimension boss Bob Weinstein told Variety.

Source: Press Release