While out promoting the DVD for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, director Shawn Levy was asked about Real Steel, a sci-fi movie based on a story by Richard Matheson, which Levy describes as

“a father/son action drama set in the near future, surrounding the sport of robot boxing.”

Levy said;

“Hugh Jackman plays a former boxer who can therefore no longer do the only thing he was ever good at and has to make his way in this new world, It’s faithful to the story in that that story was very much about a down-on-his-luck, slightly desperate journeyman who works in this robot boxing sport and who is desperately needing redemption and one last shot. The movie is more Rocky than Transformers.”

Levy has not cast the main character’s son yet but has a good idea about the robots.

“They are most definitely not Transformers, not Terminators, definitely not WALL-Es, either,” Levy said. “Unlike a lot of these others, these are human-built, human-scale fighting machines. They are built for human spectacle. People in this movie have gotten bored with human carnage and human violence. So in the quest for more, more, more, this sport has evolved to this.”

According to Levy, Producer Steven Spielberg offered the project to him and Levy saw Real Steel as an opportunity to stretch his muscles.

“When I sat down with Steven, I had a very, very specific vision of this movie, one that really puts the emphasis on the story and the sports-movie aspect as much as on the machinery,”

Levy said.

“Real Steel is my first non-comedy. I will likely come back to comedy. It’s certainly been very, very good to me. But like anyone who does anything, freshness and new experience is what keeps you interested. So when Steven called and said, ‘Hey, you want to do this thing?’ I was like, ‘Hell yeah, I’m looking for a different experience.'”

Real Steel is due in 2011.

Back in September we told you about Shawn Levy signing on to Direct REAL STEEL and then in October we told you about Hugh Jackman’s starring role in REAL STEEL, check out our previous coverage to get caught up.