EXCLUSIVE: Todd McFarlane Is Finished with New Spawn Movie Script

VIBE
VIBE Members Posts: 54,384 ✭✭✭✭✭

Todd McFarlane has been talking about a new Spawn movie for a few years now, but he told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview that 2016 is the year he makes it happen. At Toy Fair New York, McFarlane sat down and talked toys, branching out, and his first love, Spawn.

"I've finished the script, and I'm in the process of editing," McFarlane told ComicBook when asked for an update. "It's 183 pages, and [producers] usually like 120. I still think it's going to end up being about 140, because I'm putting in details for myself."

That's because McFarlane also hopes to direct the film, so he's writing the script as "a director's script." The trimming is still necessary so he can get it to "a spot where I can walk this into Hollywood and start hooking the actors," he said.

The writer/artist/creator/toy magnate wants to direct the film, and is trying to keep the budget low because of it.

"I want to keep it small, keep it tight, so they'll let me direct it!" he said. His goal is to see production start in 2016. "I need to get him back up on the big screen again to make him relevant in a big way, which we will do," he said.

McFarlane will also be releasing his first Spawn action figure in a few years, as part of his new "Color Tops" line, which will see waves of figures from different brands like Gears of War and Assassin's Creed released alongside his own Spawn and his popular The Walking Dead figures.

“I’m curious to see what happens when we go, ‘Spawn’s back and there’s only one,’ to see if we can get a little stampede, get people interested,” he said of the new figure.

Comments

  • VIBE
    VIBE Members Posts: 54,384 ✭✭✭✭✭
    After Deadpool, there's no excuse to not make a great rated r comic book movie. Should be fire.
  • CeLLaR-DooR
    CeLLaR-DooR Members Posts: 18,880 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lol believe these ? ask for exact pages like 45, 60, 90 or 120
  • iron man1
    iron man1 Members Posts: 29,989 ✭✭✭✭✭
    If he can get a deadpool type budget that be great. Hopefully a decent writer hekps out and it be great if MJW got another shot he wasn't the reason why the other movie sucked.
  • VIBE
    VIBE Members Posts: 54,384 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Spawn featured photo gallery
    Todd McFarlane is going full steam ahead on a new Spawn movie, but it's going to be very different from any interpretation of the character seen before. In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com at Toy Fair New York, McFarlane revealed his new take on the film. He has finished the screenplay, and is currently editing it down before shopping it around Hollywood.

    McFarlane opened up for the first time about the type of movie he's hoping to make, and it's a new take on Spawn altogether. Of course, the movie will be "a hard R," he assures fans, but he said it won't be a superhero, or even an action movie.
    "I'd put it more into horror/suspense/supernatural genre," McFarlane told ComicBook. "If you take the movie The Departed meets Paranormal Activity, something like that."

    The goal is to make Spawn as a character something entirely unique in the world of the new film.

    "In the background, there’s this thing moving around, this boogeyman. That boogeyman just happens to be something that you and I, intellectually, know is Spawn," he explained. "Will he look like he did in the first movie? No. Will he have a supervillain he fights? No. He’s going to be the spectre, the ghost."

    He likens Spawn's presence in the new movie to that of the lurking evil in Japanese horror films (and their Hollywood remakes) like The Grudge or The Ring.

    "I think they all work because there’s only one thing in the movie that’s not normal. There’s not five things, there’s one thing that’s the boogeyman. So that’ll be Spawn," he said. "He’s this thing that just whooshes in, this ghost that moves and will f*** you up if you’re in the wrong place in the wrong time, and the rest of the movie will look real, and be this real drama. He’s just this ghost, this thing behind it."

    It's a take on the character, moving even farther from the superhero comics that birthed it, that McFarlane has been wanting to explore for awhile, but it also has a practical application.

    "Basically, I can make this version of the movie on a budget without crazy special effects," he said with a slight chuckle. "I want to keep it small, keep it tight, so they'll let me direct it!"
  • Lou Cypher
    Lou Cypher Members Posts: 52,521 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm just worried about this version of spawn. I want spawn to be the main character, not some background thing that pops up whenever the main character gets into trouble. I feel like this is gonna be one of those found footage type films.
  • BenjaminE
    BenjaminE Members Posts: 3,679 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lol believe these ? ask for exact pages like 45, 60, 90 or 120

    Think of it as a minute per page... 183 pages would be three hours...

    Todd McFarlane is too inexperienced as a director and too close to the material for it to work... Deadpool worked because it was tongue-in-cheek and because of Ryan Reynolds... If McF makes it we're gonna have another Sucker Punch or The Spirit on our hands...
  • Lou Cypher
    Lou Cypher Members Posts: 52,521 ✭✭✭✭✭
    McFarlane can make the ? out of some toys and write some awesome comicbooks in his day. But directing a movie, I do not trust him with that.
  • lord nemesis
    lord nemesis Members Posts: 11,946 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • BangEm_Bart
    BangEm_Bart Members Posts: 9,503 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lou_Cypher wrote: »
    McFarlane can make the ? out of some toys and write some awesome comicbooks in his day. But directing a movie, I do not trust him with that.

    He should bring back the animated series and find a good director to help him with the movie like Antoine Fuqua.
  • Lou Cypher
    Lou Cypher Members Posts: 52,521 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lou_Cypher wrote: »
    McFarlane can make the ? out of some toys and write some awesome comicbooks in his day. But directing a movie, I do not trust him with that.

    He should bring back the animated series and find a good director to help him with the movie like Antoine Fuqua.

    He posted on Facebook awhile back that he had plans for another animation but nothing ever came from it of course
  • kzzl
    kzzl Members Posts: 7,548 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I was watching an interview and that ? made me feel old as hell. Because he looked old as hell. I still remember a young Todd drawing Spider-Man in his black suit. ? a movie though. I'm more interested in a Spawn game made by Rocksteady. The Arkham series makes me believe they could pull it off.
  • CeLLaR-DooR
    CeLLaR-DooR Members Posts: 18,880 ✭✭✭✭✭
    BenjaminE wrote: »
    Lol believe these ? ask for exact pages like 45, 60, 90 or 120

    Think of it as a minute per page... 183 pages would be three hours...

    Todd McFarlane is too inexperienced as a director and too close to the material for it to work... Deadpool worked because it was tongue-in-cheek and because of Ryan Reynolds... If McF makes it we're gonna have another Sucker Punch or The Spirit on our hands...

    Yeah I kno' that it's weak from a writers' point of view is what I'm sayin'. You give them the 60 pages you struggled to get exact and you don't kno' what is and is not gettin' edited out or added by the director.
  • iron man1
    iron man1 Members Posts: 29,989 ✭✭✭✭✭
    kzzl wrote: »
    I was watching an interview and that ? made me feel old as hell. Because he looked old as hell. I still remember a young Todd drawing Spider-Man in his black suit. ? a movie though. I'm more interested in a Spawn game made by Rocksteady. The Arkham series makes me believe they could pull it off.

    Man hell yea you'd have to utilize a certain amount of abilities though because he has a lot lol. The atmosphere and city environment would be perfect for him though.
  • black caesar
    black caesar Members Posts: 12,036 ✭✭✭✭✭
    BenjaminE wrote: »
    Lol believe these ? ask for exact pages like 45, 60, 90 or 120

    Think of it as a minute per page... 183 pages would be three hours...

    Todd McFarlane is too inexperienced as a director and too close to the material for it to work... Deadpool worked because it was tongue-in-cheek and because of Ryan Reynolds... If McF makes it we're gonna have another Sucker Punch or The Spirit on our hands...

    Yeah I kno' that it's weak from a writers' point of view is what I'm sayin'. You give them the 60 pages you struggled to get exact and you don't kno' what is and is not gettin' edited out or added by the director.

    Remember a page on a script equals to one minute on a screen. Hollywood is weird like that.

    Didn't you say you write scripts as well?
  • jono
    jono Members Posts: 30,280 ✭✭✭✭✭
    VIBE wrote: »
    Spawn featured photo gallery
    Todd McFarlane is going full steam ahead on a new Spawn movie, but it's going to be very different from any interpretation of the character seen before. In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com at Toy Fair New York, McFarlane revealed his new take on the film. He has finished the screenplay, and is currently editing it down before shopping it around Hollywood.

    McFarlane opened up for the first time about the type of movie he's hoping to make, and it's a new take on Spawn altogether. Of course, the movie will be "a hard R," he assures fans, but he said it won't be a superhero, or even an action movie.
    "I'd put it more into horror/suspense/supernatural genre," McFarlane told ComicBook. "If you take the movie The Departed meets Paranormal Activity, something like that."

    The goal is to make Spawn as a character something entirely unique in the world of the new film.

    "In the background, there’s this thing moving around, this boogeyman. That boogeyman just happens to be something that you and I, intellectually, know is Spawn," he explained. "Will he look like he did in the first movie? No. Will he have a supervillain he fights? No. He’s going to be the spectre, the ghost."

    He likens Spawn's presence in the new movie to that of the lurking evil in Japanese horror films (and their Hollywood remakes) like The Grudge or The Ring.

    "I think they all work because there’s only one thing in the movie that’s not normal. There’s not five things, there’s one thing that’s the boogeyman. So that’ll be Spawn," he said. "He’s this thing that just whooshes in, this ghost that moves and will f*** you up if you’re in the wrong place in the wrong time, and the rest of the movie will look real, and be this real drama. He’s just this ghost, this thing behind it."

    It's a take on the character, moving even farther from the superhero comics that birthed it, that McFarlane has been wanting to explore for awhile, but it also has a practical application.

    "Basically, I can make this version of the movie on a budget without crazy special effects," he said with a slight chuckle. "I want to keep it small, keep it tight, so they'll let me direct it!"

    I mean this sounds great in theory...but this isn't the kind of genre where you change things that drastically.

    Spawn needs to be the central character. What the ? would the story be about if its not about Spawn anyway? Following his wife and that dude? No...no way dude.
  • BangEm_Bart
    BangEm_Bart Members Posts: 9,503 ✭✭✭✭✭
    iron man1 wrote: »
    kzzl wrote: »
    I was watching an interview and that ? made me feel old as hell. Because he looked old as hell. I still remember a young Todd drawing Spider-Man in his black suit. ? a movie though. I'm more interested in a Spawn game made by Rocksteady. The Arkham series makes me believe they could pull it off.

    Man hell yea you'd have to utilize a certain amount of abilities though because he has a lot lol. The atmosphere and city environment would be perfect for him though.

    Make it like Castlevania, starting off with Al Simmons dying then learning his new abilities and building from there.
  • iron man1
    iron man1 Members Posts: 29,989 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Personally I hate this idea he's pitching that paranormal activity found footage ? insured the horror genre for U.S. cinemas won't recover anytime soon.
  • iron man1
    iron man1 Members Posts: 29,989 ✭✭✭✭✭
    iron man1 wrote: »
    kzzl wrote: »
    I was watching an interview and that ? made me feel old as hell. Because he looked old as hell. I still remember a young Todd drawing Spider-Man in his black suit. ? a movie though. I'm more interested in a Spawn game made by Rocksteady. The Arkham series makes me believe they could pull it off.

    Man hell yea you'd have to utilize a certain amount of abilities though because he has a lot lol. The atmosphere and city environment would be perfect for him though.

    Make it like Castlevania, starting off with Al Simmons dying then learning his new abilities and building from there.

    I don't disagree just saying this dude can do some crazy stuff lol certain abilities would need to be nerfed or emitted for the game to work.
  • Big Kola
    Big Kola Members Posts: 1,008 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I hope the do a Netflix series and build a world around the character.
  • Bcotton5
    Bcotton5 Members Posts: 51,851 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Big Kola wrote: »
    I hope the do a Netflix series and build a world around the character.