Heroes star Masi Oka is branching out into film production, working with Star Trek and Transformers' Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman on The Defenders, a new movie for Dreamworks.

Inspired by a love of movies such as The Goonies that, "combine an innocence with adventure", according to Orci, Oka's came up with the idea of a movie set in the world of multiplayer online role-playing games. "The question came to me: What if you had to live up to the person you created in the virtual world?" Oka told Daily Variety.

The Defenders will be written by The Book of Eli's Gary Whitta, and Orci and Kurtzman hope to persuade Eagle Eye's D.J. Caruso to direct the film. "D.J. brings a naturalistic sensibility to kids," Kurtzman said. "He also roots the implausible and the reality in a way that allows you to buy the world."