At last tired of wearing dark coats and black ties in The Matrix and movies that are not The Matrix but resemble it, Keanu Reeves has decided to become a pirate.

According to Variety, Reeves has signed with Columbia Pictures to star in Rob Cohen’s The 8th Voyage of Sinbad. We can only assume that Keanu will be playing Sinbad, and not one of the hideous tentacles that tends to reach out of the ocean to touch the sailor who has nothing in common with a certain Phil Hartman co-starring comedian.

The story of Sinbad has been done before by special effects legend Ray Harryhousen in series of movies spanning the 50’s and the 70’s. They were huge favorites in my house, and one of the rare places where my entertainment tastes and my Dad’s came together. Actually, there was only really ever two things we had in common… Star Trek and a love of Sinbad.

The character is ready for a return to the big screen, only I find myself fearing the inevitable overuse of CGI that Cohen is bound to bring with it. Work in a few stop-motion skeletons for the old school Sinbad fan will you? And keep that Brad Pitt fellow far far away from it.

The casting of Keanu is an interesting choice. I have no problem seeing him in the role of a rascally Arabian Nights character, despite his reputation for playing characters fought with airheadery. Sadly, this project isn’t likely to present much opportunity for him to use his trademark “whoa”, but it does give Keanu a chance to take his career in a different direction. I’m looking forward to it.

The current script is still in the midst of being rewritten by screenwriter Charlie Mitchell (who had a hand in writing the script for Ron Howard’s upcoming boxing biopic Cinderella Man), so it’ll likely be some time before the thing begins production, let alone hits theaters.