Caffeinated Clint
“Spawn” creator Todd McFarlane seems intent on getting the character back on the big screen.
Speaking to Comicbook.com, McFarlane says he’s been trying to get a movie off the ground for quite some time but due to the fact that he wants to direct it himself, and because of the budget it would require, nobody’s pressed the ignition button on it.
“I’ve been living with the idea for so long that I wanted to direct it, but I knew that if I gave it to Hollywood and they spent a lot of money on it then just from a practical point of view, it wouldn’t be fair for me to then say ‘I want to direct.’ It’s not good business to spend $80 million on movie and then give it to somebody who’s not known for directing movies — but if you can make a movie for $10 million, they’ll get a lot of less experienced directors to do those movies.
So I knew I needed to keep the story and the budget both tight so that when I go to Hollywood and I say ‘I have to direct it, that’s not even a negotiation, so if you can’t accept that, then the conversation is over quickly,’ then once they understand the scope and size and budget of it, they’re like ‘Oh, okay. It’s not like Todd’s coming in here asking for $100 million and then saying let me direct my first movie. He’s saying ‘give me $10 million to make a little horror movie and let’s see if we can scare some people. We’ve done that tons of times.’”
McFarlane says the eventual film will be unlike any other comic book film – for starters, Granny likely won’t make it to the end credits if she comes with.
“It’s slowly moving forward, just trying to put all the pieces together both from an artistic and a financial. The intent is trying to finance as much as possible internally and then finding partners who will help in the production of it as we move forward. I can argue getting the money might be harder than getting everybody signed off on the story. What I can tell you is what I’ve told everybody else: it will be a definite R rated. I’m not going for the same crowd that Marvel and DC is going for; I’m going for the same crowd that horror film releases going for. People who want to take their boyfriend or girlfriend or go out with the girls and go to the movies and get spooked.”
Michael Jai White played Spawn in the original ’90s flick.
