SHAWN LEVY is shooting for the stars.

    Levy, the helmer behind the “Night at the Museum” movies as well as “Real Steel,” has signed on to direct and produce “Starman,” a Columbia Pictures’ remake of the 1980s sci-fi romance that starred Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen.

    Arash Amel, best known for writing the Nicole Kidman drama “Grace of Monaco,” is writing the script for the project, which is also being produced by Michael Douglas, who produced the original.

    “Starman” is the story of an alien who crash-lands on Earth and assumes the form of a woman’s dead husband. He forces the woman to take him to rendezvous with his people, but on the road trip, romance blossoms, all while the government is in hot pursuit to capture him, dead or alive.

    Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon, who adapted the 1980s classic “Stand By Me,” wrote the original’s script. Horror king John Carpenter took a detour from his usual genre and directed the movie, which earned acclaim and a best actor nomination for Bridges.

    The movie could prove to be a detour for Levy as well. Levy has done sci-fi before with the robot boxing movie “Real Steel” and dipped his toe in romantic comedy with “Date Night,” but this will be the filmmaker’s first dive into a character-based love story.

    Dan Cohen of Levy’s “21 Laps” banner and Robert Mitas are executive-producing. Matt Milam and Adam North are overseeing for Columbia.

    Amel co-wrote “The Titan,” the sci-fi indie now in production that stars Sam Worthington, Taylor Schilling and Tom Wilkinson. He also worked on MGM’s remake of “War Games” and “Seducing Ingrid Bergman.”

    (SD-Agencies)