HELLBLAZER #1
© 2001 DC Comics

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Constantine

Genre:
Horror/Comic Book Adaptation.

Studio:
Warner Brothers.


Production Company:
Shuler Donner/Donner Productions.

Project Phase:
Released.

Who's In It:
Keanu Reeves (John Constantine); Rachel Weisz (Angela); Tilda Swinton (Gabriel); Djimon Hounsou (Papa Midnite); Gavin Rossdale (Balthazar); Shia LaBeouf (Chas); Peter Stormare (Satan).

Who's Making It:
Francis Lawrence (Director); Mark Bomback, Kevin Brodbin, Frank Cappello (Screenwriters); Lauren Shuler-Donner (Producer); based on the character created by Alan Moore and appearing in DC/Vertigo Comics.

Premise:
Renegade occultist John Constantine helps a police officer investigate the murder of her twin sister while at the same time trying to stay out of the reach of the lords of Hell.

Release Date:
February 11, 2005.

Comments:
Based on the DC Comics series HELLBLAZER. The film's title character, John Constantine, is a man who lives on the fringes of the supernatural world and manipulates others to defuse situations that threaten all life on our plane of existence.

While the character in the comics is a true blood Brit (author Alan Moore partially designed Constatine's look and attitude based on The Police's frontman, Sting, back in the early '80s), for the movie he'll be an American. Realistically, given the state of comics these days, most of the world won't have any idea what the origins of the character are, leaving only a teensy group of purist fans miffed by the changes.

Scoop Feedback:

November 27, 2000... Here's yet another comic book property somewhere lost in Hollywood. For a glimpse of at least one vision of the adaptation, we would direct you to Stax's review of a script by Kevin Brodbin, dated June 4, 1997. It sounds pretty convoluted and strange, seeing as how in the script John's a New Yorker and it combines bits and pieces from several of the first five years worth of comic story arcs. It's even more disturbing for comic purists that the project is referred to as an "action-adventure thriller" in Variety.

The latest word on this was over at Comics2Film and that was back in March. We weren't able to dredge up too much else, other than Paul Hunter, who was once involved, is no longer attached to the project, according to his camp. When we tried contacting Donner Productions the only two words we were able to pry from anyone were "active development," but when we asked for details we got the big numero zippo. Until we hear differently, consider this one still in the ninth circle.

[Info taken from Stax's Flixburg, Comics2Film, Variety.]

November 28, 2000... You ask for things and they bring them. Same principle as Santa Claus. Lauren Shuler-Donner was nice enough to drop us a line and give us today's CA Exclusive: "Yes, Constantine/Hellblazer is in active development and should be in production this year. W.B. is the studio. I am producer. No director is set yet. Frank Cappello is the current writer." Frank Cappello was the director of American Yakuza and screenwriter for Suburban Commando. [Thanks to Lauren Shuler-Donner for the information.]

January 11, 2001... Hollywood Reporter tells us that although Donner Productions and Warner Brothers have apparently parted ways, this project of theirs is still at WB...and is indeed being "fast-tracked." [Originally appeared at Hollywood Reporter.]

January 17, 2001... Comics2Film reports that scribe Frank Cappello has been busy over at the DC Message Boards talking about how we will soon see this film in a green light special. Nicolas Cage has the script now, and other actors being talked about at the studio, according to Cappello, include Mel Gibson, Kevin Spacey and Hugh Jackman. For their full report, check out the C2F site here.
[Originally appeared at Comics2Film.]

January 26, 2001... Hollywood Reporter tells us today that Tarsem (The Cell) is on board to direct this film, and if you saw the Jennifer Lopez film -- you know that this project suddenly got a lot more interesting. No kickoff date, although the mag did say it won't see the cameras rolling anytime during first quarter of this year. [Originally appeared at Hollywood Reporter; 'd__i__b' was also lighting quick to alert us.]

If you remember our entry from January 17th commenting on the Comics2Film report, one of the screenwriters was making comments that we'd be soon seeing some action on this project. Here's the proof, we suppose.

February 28, 2001... Comics2Film uncovered a number of messages left by Frank Cappello, the latest screenwriter assigned to work on adapting the Hellblazer film project. Cappello posted a series of messages on the DC Comics message forum late last year, letting fans of the Constantine character know that Cappello was trying his best to make the film version of Constantine as faithful to the comic book's as possible.

"I'm going to request that I rewrite [John Constantine] English," wrote Cappello on the DC Comics forum. "I'm serious about this. Maybe I've seen the light or maybe it's the Guiness or maybe it's my wife watching Notting Hill for the twentieth time, but there is NO REASON not to make John English. None. Even if it means an American plays him."

More of Cappello's comments can be found on Comics2Film. As longtime readers of this
page know, the character of Constantine was written as American in the past drafts of Hellblazer (now titled Constantine). [Originally appeared on Comics2Film.]

June 27, 2001... Nicolas Cage, still seeking a comic book movie project to play a part in, is now interested in starring as John Constantine in Constantine. Nothing is done or finalized; Cage has just expressed an interest in the part and is awaiting the new draft. ['Internet 24-7' and 'BlackBeltJones' reported it; originally appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.]

October 25, 2001... The Hollywood Reporter announced that Nicolas Cage has committed to star in Constantine. Tarsem (The Cell) is still booked as the film's director. Shooting is scheduled to begin on March 1, 2002. Reporter also says a bit about the story, describing it as a "Dirty Harry set in the occult world". In the picture Constantine will partner with a female cop to fight against the dark supernatural forces. [Originally appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.]

January 15, 2002... Director Tarsem Singh has exited the Constantine project. According to sources that spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, Tarsem left the film over problems with the movie's budget. It's unknown if the departure of Tarsem has affected Nicolas Cage's involvement to star in the film. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter.]

April 29, 2002... First it was Warner Bros. that filed a lawsuit against former Constantine director Tarsem Singh; now the helmer has filed his own legal complaint against the Hollywood studio. In February WB laid a claim with the Los Angeles Superior Court hoping that the legal system would listen to its complaint that Singh violated terms of his contract and be held accountable for damages sustained by WB. Last Friday the director filed his own lawsuit against WB claiming the studio "baited" him with false promises about the creative direction of the project and is now falsely suing him for leaving the project.

The result? Constantine is back in development hell. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter.]

September 25, 2002... Darkworlds broke the exclusive that music video director Francis Lawrence is now attached to helm the Constantine movie. Lawrence directed Will Smith's video for Men in Black II, Nod Ya Head, and has directed videos in the past for such stars as Aerosmith, Britney
Spears, Pink and Lauryn Hill. He was named as Director of the Year for 2002 by the American Music Video Producers Association.

October 10, 2002... The Hollywood Reporter confirms last month's Darkminds exclusive report that music video director Francis Lawrence is attached to Constantine. Keanu Reeves remains attached to the project. [Source: THR.]

April 30, 2003... Producer Lauren Shuler-Donner told the Sci-Fi Wire website that her new comic book movie project, CONSTANTINE, will be geared for the same PG-13 audience that X-MEN targets, but that the subject matter will be a lot heavier than just mutant rights. "It's really focused on John Constantine, and it's more spiritual," Shuler-Donner told the site. "He sends demons back down to hell. It's a darker tone."

Keanu Reeves is still attached to star as the character which, in the Vertigo comics, is English. Reeves will be playing Constantine as an American. "We gave him the script, and he read it, and he liked it," said the producer.

Music video director Francis Lawrence will direct CONSTANTINE which is set to start filming in September. [Sci-Fi Wire.]

August 21, 2003... THE MUMMY's Rachel Weisz could be in supernatural trouble again if she signs a deal to star in CONSTANTINE, the Warner Bros. adaptation of the HELLBLAZER comic book series. Weisz would play a police officer named Angela who saddles up with occultist John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) to investigate the strange circumstances surrounding her twin sister's death.

While The Hollywood Reporter has published Weisz's involvement with the production today, it was the FilmJerk website that first broke Weisz's involvement with CONSTANTINE mere hours before the trades landed the news. According to FilmJerk sources, Weisz is indeed signed to the movie and the producers are looking for 8 to 10-year-old identical twin girls to play the parts of Angela and her sister, Isabel, in a flashback scene in the film.

CONSTANTINE is scheduled to begin shooting late September and is tentantively eyed for a September 17, 2004 release. [Notches on The Hollywood Reporter and FilmJerk's belts.]

August 25, 2003... According to Monday's The Hollywood Reporter, actress Tilda Swinton (ORLANDO, ADAPTATION) may be shortly hired to play the part of the angel Gabriel in the supernatural thriller CONSTANTINE. Keanu Reeves plays the anti-hero and last week Rachel Weisz was cast in the picture's lead female role, Angela.

If you're not up on your HELLBLAZER comic mythology, in the series Gabriel was a member of the heavenly host who resides on Earth and lives the life of a snobbish, upper-class citizen. Spending most of his time in an exclusive London gentlemen's club, Gabriel had an antagonistic relationship (at best) with John Constantine. Constantine used Gabriel, with or without his endorsement, on a number of his endeavors.

At first appearance a female would seem to be the wrong choice to play a character that's been depicted as male in the HELLBLAZER comics. However, Swinton herself has an interesting appearance that makes her almost otherworldly. She could prove to be an excellent choice for the character -- if she can close her deal. [The Hollywood Reporter.]

CONSTANTINE is scheduled to begin filming next month.
August 26, 2003... One of the former gigs for comic book writer Warren Ellis was working on Vertigo's HELLBLAZER, the comic that's the basis for Warner Bros. upcoming CONSTANTINE movie starring Keanu Reeves. Ellis publishes a e-newsletter to his fans, BAD SIGNAL, and this week he talked about a chance meeting with one of the film's stars as well as what he thinks about the choice of Reeves for the title role.

Ellis had a chance meeting with actress Tilda Swinton who is contemplating taking the role of the archangel Gabriel in the picture. The two of them began discussing the movie, the comic series and the character Swinton may be playing. "She said something I found fascinating: in an America where a president again invokes the term Evil in public statements, there's the potential to say something very interesting in a major-studio film about Biblical good and evil," comments Ellis in his newsletter. "To present the angel Gabriel as a figure of horror; there's space to say something that in the mainstream of American culture is certainly subversive. She characterised Reeves as an intelligent, 'spiritual' man, and thinks there might be the possibility, with Reeves there, to do something challenging."

"This, by the way, is the answer to the almost-daily emails asking what I think of Keanu Reeves cast as Constantine," continues the writer. "First; the film is never going to be the same as the comic. American or English, the film will succeed if it's true to the core of the man, because that's what hooks people into the book. Nicolas Cage, I maintain, would have made a good Constantine because he can do the ravaged, shattered side of the man. I think Reeves is an interesting choice because he can get at the other part of Constantine, the part that demands social justice and exists in ethical turmoil."

CONSTANTINE begins lensing next month for a September 2004 release. [Thanks to 'The First of the L.A. Fallen' for sending in the tip; originally appeared in Bad Signal.]

September 8, 2003... With filming about to begin in a few weeks on CONSTANTINE, the remainder of the film's supporting roles are starting to be filled. The latest additions to the cast roster are for Gavin Rossdale and Djimon Hounsou (LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE) who will play Balthazar and Papa Midnite, respectively.

In the HELLBLAZER comic book, Rossdale's Balthazar was one of the three kings of Hell, ruling demons who come up against Constantine on Earth. Hounsou's Papa Midnite is a sometimes ally of Constantine, a New Orleans voodoo priest.

Remaining roles that need to be filled for the production include: Chaz, the longtime taxi driving friend of John Constantine; Father Garret, a priest who knows Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz's character); Ellie, a beautiful demon that's known as a succubus who once had a consummate relationship with a heavenly angel; and Beeman, a young man who helps Constantine acquire supernatural items.

Filming is scheduled to start on CONSTANTINE September 22 in Los Angeles. [The Hollywood Reporter, mysterious sources.]

October 10, 2003... Straight to Hell's internet service provider must be wondering what the hell is going on. The Hellblazer fan website landed the world's first look at Keanu Reeves playing occultist John Constantine in Warner Bros. CONSTANTINE movie. WB gave the fansite two photos of Reeves playing Constantine along with a piece of production artwork for the character's apartment but it's proving next to impossible to download any of them due to the sudden overwhelming influx of curious surfers.

Hit the link and see if your luck is any better now.

October 13, 2003... Thanks to a scooper we've learned that singer/composer Lisa Gerrard is busy working on her next project, CONSTANTINE. If you've been off-planet for the last few months, the cinematic adaptation of the DC/Vertigo comic book began filming last month under the helm of music video director Francis Lawrence. Keanu Reeves is playing the chain-smoking, demon-hunting anti-hero with attitude.

"If the first track is anything to go by this going to be one of the darkest works Lisa ever did," reports the last entry on Lisa Gerrard's website dated nearly two months ago. The entry states that Gerrard has been working on "this VERY dark soundtrack" for a few weeks prior to the last update, so by now she must be well into the work of scoring the film.

Gerrard is the singer of Dead Can Dance and has worked on a number of movie soundtracks including GLADIATOR, ALI, THE INSIDER, WHALE RIDER and BARAKA.

"No matter what this film puts Lisa in front of a vast darkness and (heavenly) light filled canvas," her website goes on to state. "Keanu Reeves is well suited for the part, let's just hope that he reads HELLBLAZER and portrays John Constantine as the heavily smoking antihero he is. But probably the most important point with a character like John Constantine is to hope that nobody is actually expecting a PG-13 rating."

[Thanks to the anonymous sender who let us know about it.]

December 23, 2003... FARGO's Peter Stormare has been cast in the now shooting CONSTANTINE film in the role of the big bad boss of the underworld, Satan. In the HELLBLAZER comic book series, Satan was often an adversary of John Constantine and was his primary nemesis in the "Dangerous Habits" storyline which the film's script is partially based on.

Keanu Reeves is playing the demon fighter in the Warner Bros. movie with Rachel Weisz, Djimon Hounsou, Tilda Swinton and Gavin Rossdale co-starring. The picture comes out September 17 next year. [Variety.]

March 4, 2004... Yesterday both IGN FilmForce and Ain't It Cool News published reports from a scooper who claimed that comic book scribe Alan Moore had requested that his name be removed from the forthcoming CONSTANTINE movie. Moore created the character of John Constantine in the pages of SWAMP THING in the 80s before the English occultist was spun off into his own ongoing series.

The story went that Moore, after having read the CONSTANTINE movie script, was so upset over the changes made to the movie's Constantine character that he vowed to never give approval again for another movie project based on his comic work. It was also alleged that Moore refused to accept any monies from the movie owed to him for use of the character.

FilmForce tried to solicit a comment from a representative of DC Comics or CONSTANTINE producer Lauren Shuler Donner but was unable to get either party to speak. However, fellow comic book writer Neil Gaiman has issued his own statement which shoots down the gossip cold. "Oh, it's true that Alan's rejected the money for CONSTANTINE and assigned it to his cocreators, but he's now done that for all films of his and things he's done that might one day be filmed," Gaiman states in his online journal.

"As far as I know, from having spoken to him, Alan's view on CONSTANTINE itself is the same as his view on FROM HELL and LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, which is that he'll probably rent the DVD one day, you never know, hell might freeze over, -- and that the important work is the comic -- the main difference being here that the film is, from what I understand, mostly based on the Garth Ennis and Jamie Delano issues of the HELLBLAZER comic."

[IGN FilmForce, Ain't It Cool News, Neil Gaiman.]

March 15, 2004... Warner Bros. has shifted the release date of CONSTANTINE from September 2004 to February 11, 2005. No reason was given. [Source: Warner Bros.]