Kick-Ass creator John Romita Jr's Gray Area gets a screenwriter. Plus: Scott Pilgrim vs Avatar! Walking Dead news chunks. The sun sets on Cowboys & Aliens and more! Still happy with the Hornet trailer a day later, it's your Comics2Film 10.6.23!
FEARnet followed up on their recent scoop that attached director Breck Eisner to the filmed adaptation of Mark Wheatly's comic Blood of the Innocent, by talking with the director himself.
Eisner confirmed that he's attached and said he loves the concept, for which he provided some additional details.
"Mark gave a bit of the pitch, Jack the Ripper vs. Dracula," Eisner told FEARnet, continuing, "but really Jack the Ripper is the hero and he's trying to save the world from Dracula and his vampire brides. It's just a cool, aggressive, awesome pitch and I'd love to make that."
Eisner said he sees the movie as dark and edgy. While he's pitched it to the studio as a PG-13 film, he wants to push the rating as far to the edge is it can go, much like The Dark Knight did. "Dark Knight was aggressive by avoiding sexuality and language allowing you to push the intensity and violence right to the edge of PG 13. I'm hoping to be able to do that for Blood of the Innocent, although if we're able to scale back the movie a little bit and go a little more gritty or dark then we'll go into R territory for sure."
However, whereas Wheatley made it seem as if the project was a sure thing to go into production after Eisner tackles Escape From New York, the director was a bit more tentative in his comments.
"It's dark and aggressive and intense, but kind of expensive so we'll see if I can get a studio to commit the resources to really take a chance on a movie like this," Eisner said.
He also talked about scheduling between Escape and his other big comics adaptation Flash Gordon. "It depends on how the projects come to fruition; Flash Gordon is a total passion project for me. We've just extended the option and the studio's very committed in trying to make it happen. It's just a gigantic 3D experience with years of prep, it’s one of those movies you get once in a lifetime to make and for me it's been a passion of mine since I was a kid. If I could pick and just control everything I would love to make Flash Gordon, it's really kind of my dream job, but it's multi-year, in terms of writing and designing."
The Walking Dead podcast reports that actor Keith Allen Hayes has joined the cast of The Walking Dead. Their sourcing the news to Imdb, which is notoriously unreliable when it comes to casting info on in-production or pre-production projects. Hayes has numerous credits to his name but most of them are bit parts such as "Church Member", "Gang Member", "Father of a Young Boy" and the like. So in all likelihood he's not filling a major role in the show.
Meanwhile, L.A. based composer Kevin Riepl has applied his orchestral/industrial/electronic/ambient music style to an animated trailer storyboarded by artwork the original Walking Dead comics. It's apparently a demo piece that Riepl cut together in hopes of landing the job scoring the show. You can watch it on Facebook (sorry, no embedding). Riepl has worked extensively in the video game biz, scoring such releases as Gears of War, Aliens: Colonial Marines and various Unreal titles.
Finally, you can find a pair of interview pieces from the set of the show on Ain't it Cool here and here.
SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD - Robbo Avatar
If you're on the Facebook you may be wondering why all your friends suddenly look like character's from Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novels. Well, the reason is the cool new Avatar Creator found on the official website for Scott Pilgrim vs The World.
Fire up the creator and you can conjure up a Pilgrim style character that may vaguely resemble your own self. Click the thumbnail at right for a look at C2F's Rob Worley, rendered O'Malley style.
In other Scott Pilgrim news, MTV chats up the Toronto-based indie band Broken Social Scene who (along with Beck) has crafted some of the music for the movie. Bandmates Kevin Drew and Charles Spearin talk a bit about the movie, but aren't permitted to say much about how they stood in for the ficticious band Crash and the Boys.
Thanks to AntoBlueberry for the submission.
Cowboys & Aliens is in the midst of a series of night shoots according to the enlightening tweets of director Jon Favreau.
Yesterday afternoon he lamented, " Last night was the shortest night of the year. The sun started coming up before 5. Tough when you're shooting nights."
He then added that they'll be continuing the night filming until the fourth of July.
Apparently the night photography isn't keeping the film's leading lady (and prolific twitterer) Oliva Wilde all that busy. Wilde tells her followers that she's catching up on old western's like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid while standing by for some action on the set.
"Shooting nights makes me feel like a real doctor...or a cop..or Batman! I'm on call at any moment in case they need me to swoop in and act," Wilde tweeted.
Wilde's co-stars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are apparently not twitterbugs so they've offered nothing in the way of micro updates. Cowboys & Aliens is due out July 29, 2011.
Last November C2F exclusively reported that Solipsist Films was developing the comic The Gray Area for film.
The book created by Glen Brunswick and John Romita Jr (of Kick-Ass fame and other Marvel glory) tells of a corrupt cop who is killed, but finds himself in a purgatory state with a chance to redeem himself.
Now we've learned that screenwriter Mark Kratter has come on board to pen the script for the film. Kratter is a relative newcomer but has made some waves with his award-winning horror spec Endangered and recently adapted the Daina Graziunas' novel Thinning the Predators for Warner Bros.
Look for more on The Gray Area soon, right here on Mania.com
Agreed Wiseguy needs to be "R". Flash Gordon could be a cool update if in the right hands.
Walking Dead... Is it October yet???
Scott Pilgram yah i'm there...
Cowboys & Aliens this sounds like it will be massive fun... i hope it doesn't lay a huge turd.
The Gray Area sounds pretty cool.
If theyre gonna do Flash Gordon again they'd better use Queen again for the music score or Im gonna be mighty pissed.
The Shia page is screaming for comments... such as what should be the #1 do not make sequel
Mutt Jones and the Return of the Lost Ark
I am loving this music that Kevin Riepl did to pitch for Walking Dead. I think it works very well.
How about that USA soccer squad making it through to the round of 16. USA USA USA USA
I wonder if Eisner is still going to ask Gerard Butler to be Snake in the Escape movie. There was a time I agreed with that casting but Butler has made so many chick flicks since 300 that he might have to turn in his man card like Matthew Mcconaughey had to.
Hey, there are some soccer fans in America...I think we found the only two....just kidding, well not really but I couldn't resist.
Not trying to hate on Eisner here but I don't think his taste in film projects is going to extend his career any. A Flash Gordon movie doesn't have enough audience because campy doesn't sell as well these days. The list of unsuccessful retro/period genre projects that failed goes from Dick Tracy to Speed Racer to The Spirit and will likely include Flash Gordon (and the Green Hornet) as well. As for Escape from New York, it's another remake that we don't need. A modern action explosion treatment can't be as cool as Carpenter's dark, twisted original. At least this film might actually makes some cash though unlike Flash Gordon. As for Blood of the Innocent, I think it is a fantastic idea to make a PG-13 movie about Jack the Ripper and Vampires. Right now, at my house , I'm filming a porno movie where all the fully dressed actors just stick there index fingers through the circle made by the thumb and forefinger of another actor. You guys are all going to want to pay for that right?
Mjc:
2 goals taken away during group play and still winning the group. Holy crap, my pants exploded when Donovan made the shot.
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I understand the desire for a pg13 rating but Blood of the Innocent just doesn't sound like it belongs in that territory. Come on, we're talking Jack the Ripper vs Dracula. Don't matter that Jack is a hero, this really needs to be rated R IMO. But I'm sure I'll see it either way if it gets made
I also love the way he comes across on Flash Gordon. Hopefully he gets to make his dream project. It sounds like he has a real vision for it.
When is production on Escape from NY going to get rolling? We've been talking and hearing about this for a long time already.