For those who like a serious take on their comic book movies (count me in!), you should be happy by what Todd McFarlane has to say about his upcoming Spawn movie, which sees him write and direct the film.
“It’s funny in Hollywood, if you say you want to do an R-rated movie, they go like ‘Oh like Deadpool or Logan?’ For me, no,” Todd McFarlane said at this weekend’s Ace Comic Con. “To me, Deadpool was the PG-13 action movie, it just had some naked butts and a couple of f-bombs. Other than that, I thought it was the same PG-13 formula. When I’m talking R, I’m talking that there wouldn’t be a lot of fun, there won’t be any stupid lines in it. I never like my hero to make a joke right when the jeopardy was at its highest. If I felt that my hero wasn’t afraid right now, why should I be? I want my heroes to go ‘Sh-t, where do I go now?’”
Todd McFarlane continues with mention that his Spawn movie won’t be the typical superhero flick where it’s all jokes and nothing matters.
“Here’s what I do know. It should be impossible for anybody to go to the movie and say ‘I’m disappointed, I thought it was a superhero movie,’” Todd McFarlane offered. “Because there’s this thing called the internet and TV, and you’ll see the trailer, and there will be nothing in the trailer that will say that this is a superhero movie. It’s just going to be a dark, nasty R-rated, scary, creepy, messed up movie. Now why? If you were a ten-year-old and you bought Spawn #1, it’s 25 years later and you’re 35. You’re an adult, and I just think my audience has grown up with me.”
Todd McFarlane is correct in that his audience grew up with him. I can remember buying Spawn #1 for the first time (two copies!) at my LCS when I was 15 or 16. I even wrote a letter to Todd McFarlane, and the letter got printed in #11 (go check!). I can recall the exact day I found out my letter was printed in Spawn #11 was because my LCS had given me the wrong change – too much – and I went back and gave them the money back. I then came home and read Spawn, and found my letter in the back of the issue. Though I don’t believe in Karma, I thought the two happening on the same day was a pretty cool thing.
Speaking of the comic books, Todd McFarlane said the Spawn movie will be close to the source material found in the comics.
“Let me also say, there will be nothing in this movie that has not been in the comic book at some point, or in the HBO [animated series] at some point. I could show you the pages. I’m just culling it down,” McFarlane revealed.
The Spawn movie currently has no release date, and it’s also being produced by Blumhouse Productions of Insidious, The Purge, Split, Paranormal Activity and more fame.
