In July the Internet buzzed with news that the Arcana comic book 'GearHead', created by writer Dennis Hopeless and artist Kevin Mellon, had been picked up for feature film development, a deal that had begun percolating even before the first issue went on sale.
Comics2Film recently chatted with filmmaker Cory Kinney, the film's writer and director who is the driving force behind the project. It was Kinney who snatched the property up as soon as he discovered the book.
"Sean O'Reilly at Arcana comics sent me an advanced edition of issue one and I just fell in love with it," Kinney said. Although he was in the midst of touring film festivals with his movie 'The Sparkle Lite Motel', the director was excited enough about the book's cinematic potential that he immediately took it to Nicholas Tabarrok, a long-time friend and collaborator who runs the Canada-based Darius Films. "He got as jazzed about it as I did and just jumped on it."
The book sets up a framework for plenty of action centered on fast cars and superheroes, while delivering rich characters and themes, as well as social commentary. All these things were factors in Kinney's attachment to the project.
"What initially grabbed my attention in issue one, apart from Dennis' great storytelling and Kevin's unique use of composition was the premise: Shelby Cooper is a young woman who must rise to the challenge of her own destiny. She's quite content to just race cars and run her auto garage but, as these things happen, fate intervenes and she finds herself at the fore-front of a revolution, and not sure whether she wants to be there or not.
"It's classic Hero's Journey stuff for a character that could well be considered an anti-hero," Kinney said.
In early September, when we spoke to Kinney, he had just completed a first draft of the 'GearHead' screenplay. As is always the case with adaptations, certain elements of the comic will be altered or removed entirely. For example, the 'GearHead' movie will not be populated by superheroes.
"I felt that the superheroes were coming into conflict with the basic premise of a fast-driving girl with a pipe wrench who has to beat the odds and overthrow a corrupt government," Kinney explained. However, fans shouldn't take that as a sign that the film will somehow be watered-down.
"In the comics Shelby has no superpowers but still manages to perform some super human deeds. Superhero characters in the script retain the core of their behavioral traits...their essence...but the tights and the abilities to eject zombies out of their chests are gone. Does that mean that we've stripped out the action? Well, no. If anything we've amped it up ten-fold!"
While some fans might think this is a move that would upset the creators of the comic, Kinney tells us this is not the case.
"Dennis and I had fairly long meetings when we were both at Comic-con and his, initial concept, as he explained it to me, didn't have superheroes in it either. A lot of the story premise where we were going to go with the script was in fact where he had intended the next four to go as well."
Indeed, Kinney is working closely with Hopeless and Mellon to ensure that the events of the film dovetail with upcoming installments of the comic.
Kinney is currently working with Tabarrok and the film's story editor, Sarah Dodd, to get the script into shooting shape. At that point they'll start pursuing actors for the film. While those casting conversations have yet to occur, we did manage to elicit Kinney's wish list for some of the main roles.
"For Shelby I'd love to see someone like Amber Tamblyn, Evan Rachel Wood, Jessica Alba. They're all tremendously talented and could all fill the physical requirements of the role very well.
"For Slick, who we consider our male lead, we'd love to get somebody like Nathan Fillion or Ryan Reynolds. They'd both be strong choices."
Kinney expects the film to have a budget in the $10 million range. He's considering locations in New Mexico for the scenes that take place in the Outlands, and Albuquerque or any number of major Canadian cities for the urban settings.
For now Kinney is focused on the script and hopeful that 'GearHead' will continue on its fast pace.
"It's a funny choice that I'm making this movie because I do believe very strongly in environmentalism, so here we have this movie about a girl driving combustion-engine cars in a zero-emissions world, but I'm a firm believer in personal choice and civil rights as well," Kinney said.
"Shelby chooses to live a certain lifestyle that comes under attack by a small group of powerful people who think they know what's best for everyone, not unlike what we're seeing with the current U.S. administration right now. That's something that's evident in Dennis' writing. It's something that we're certainly happy to build on. That's what the fans seem to be responding to so we want to give the fans what they like."
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