Tangent 21 - James Marsden (aka Cyclops) new movie

Posted by
pimpdaddy

Posted on
12:13
Jun 14 2003

James Marsden (aka Cyclops) new movie

James Marsden has been signed up to play the lead role in another comic book adaption movie. This movie will be based on the Preacher comics I don't have as much a problem with this casting as I do With Keanu Reeves casting as John Constantine (although I had to convince a friend of mine that it wasn't James marsters who play Spike becasue he got confused between the two and was really worried).

But I will be interested to see how the casting for the other roles will pan out and also how Garth Ennis who wrote the comics and who is writing the screenplay will be able get certain characters on screen these include

Jeese Custer the lead character is a southern preacher (hence the title of the comics is called Preacher) who has lost his faith and become fused with a half angel half demon entity which has given him the word of GOD basically this means that whatever he tells you to do you have to do it.

Tulip- Jesse's Girlfriend who also happens to be a hitman/woman/girl.

Cassidy- A hard drinking Irish vampire (already I can hear the people calling for colin farrell to play this part)

The sex Detectives - can't say what they do you have to read the comic but needless to say if he manages to get them on screen he will either have to water them down otherwise the film will be rated 18

TC and Jody - again same problem as the sex detectives (read an issue with them in it and you'll see waht I mean)

The saint of killers A man who possesss guns which never need reloading and who hits anything he points them at

Herr Starr - Leader of covert group who secretly run the world and who want jesse custer as the new messiah.

and finally A***face - A kid who tried to commit suicide like Kurt Cobain and instead turned his face into an A***

I am looking forward to this film purely to see if it's going to stay true to the comic but considering Garth Ennis wrote the comic hopefully it will but I will say if it does it will hopefully be one of the funniest, sickest and best comic adaptions ever yes even better than spiderman and X-men.

(Edited by pimpdaddy 14/06/2003 12:14)

(Edited by pimpdaddy 14/06/2003 12:15)

12 Replies and 2192 Views in Total.

Spikeo I am Jack's quote

I don't know if it being an 18 should even be a concern...it has to be otherwise it won't be true to the source material. Since Ennis is writing it I somehow doubt he'll let anyone tell him to tone it down, and it's not like we're talking a Marvel franchise where they want it to reach as many people as possible purely for the bucks.

Ironically Farrell *would* be a good choice for Cassidy but after playing Bullseye and having exploded the last few months I'm not sure if he'd be an option anymore

Posted: 18:53 Jun 14 2003

Taz Extra medication for all - Pilz-e

Mmmm Preacher-y goodness!

I haven't read any Preacher stuff for way too long.
I may hafta dig out some stuff before this comes to the cinema.

Having seen most of James Marsden's other stuff, I can actually see him playing this role.
Cyclops isn't really a great example of how, but I can see how it could work.

(Edited by Taz 15/06/2003 00:27)

Posted: 00:25 Jun 15 2003

Incandenza It's not a zero-sum game.

This sounds like a disaster to me.

James Marsden is never in a million years Jesse, no sir, no way, not ever!

More than that though, I don't think any kind of mainstream film can possibly remain true to the comic either in terms of religious content or the extreme violence.

Posted: 12:47 Jun 18 2003

The Prophet "We bonded over a shared love of barbiturates and obsessive-compulsive behaviour."

by Incandenza
This sounds like a disaster to me.

James Marsden is never in a million years Jesse, no sir, no way, not ever!

More than that though, I don't think any kind of mainstream film can possibly remain true to the comic either in terms of religious content or the extreme violence.

Well, no-one said this was going to be a mainstream movie.

Anyway; no worries. All you need to do is take out the stuff about God, tone down the language a little, give the lead characters some kind of non-lethal weapons and you're away.

I mean, it's a comic book movie: It's for kids, right? (Astute readers may note a recurring rant here)

Oh, and better not make the lead character a minister; might upset the religious right.

There's a great Neil Gaiman short about a guy trying to pitch a movie idea, the central theme of which involves Charlie Manson, and the studios love the story but want to lose the Manson connection. Every time they pitch a cult comic, I can't help thinking of that story.

Posted: 13:30 Jun 18 2003

pimpdaddy "Well I've seen Mel Gibson's movie the Passion and Mel Gibson says you are snakes and you are liars and if the roadwarrior said it, it must be true."-Eric Cartman

by Incandenza
This sounds like a disaster to me.

James Marsden is never in a million years Jesse, no sir, no way, not ever!

More than that though, I don't think any kind of mainstream film can possibly remain true to the comic either in terms of religious content or the extreme violence.

For the life of me I can't figure out who I would put in Jesse Custers role. Hopefully they'll keep the zippo lighter.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel in the form of Garth Ennis who is apparently writing the screen play.
Then again he has been trying to get DC to print a Sex Detectives one shot for the past two years (apparently the content is a bit risque shall we say).

And it doesn't bode well when the current S&P guy says if he had been there when preacher launched it never would have had some of the content that it did have.

We can but live in hope that it stays true to the idea of the comic considering that the film will be based on Gone To Texas story arc which leaves it open for a preacher franchise.

Posted: 13:32 Jun 18 2003

Incandenza It's not a zero-sum game.

by The Prophet
Well, no-one said this was going to be a mainstream movie.

This is the only way I can see it working... which means it will have to be made on a pretty tight budget.

Don't really see Marsden as a cult movie star personally.

Posted: 13:53 Jun 18 2003

pimpdaddy "Well I've seen Mel Gibson's movie the Passion and Mel Gibson says you are snakes and you are liars and if the roadwarrior said it, it must be true."-Eric Cartman

Well the next bit of news should make people happ the budget is rumored to be set at $20 Million small by Hollywood standards. Also I've just found out who the director is going to be none other Rachel Talalay for those of you saying "Who?" She's the director of that mega hit "Tank Girl" *feel the sarcasm*. Apparnetly Garth Ennis didn't want her to be the director and you can see why. I mean would you want somebody who directed a previous stinker.

Posted: 14:48 Jun 18 2003

Incandenza It's not a zero-sum game.

by pimpdaddy
Well the next bit of news should make people happ the budget is rumored to be set at $20 Million small by Hollywood standards.

$20m is a horrendous level for a budget for any movie.

Low budget movies ($2m and below) don't have to perform that well to recoup and have a certain art house credibility by dint of the budget.

Blockbuster movies ($50m and above) have (usually) spent enough money on sure-fire elements that will guarantee box office.

In between is that strange hinterland of mid-budget films that aren't big enough to have 'must see' blockbuster status or personal enough to appeal to the indie crowd.

Having checked out the details available online, I'd say this movie is nowhere near getting made at the moment.

Marsden has been 'attached' for over a year but hasn't signed anything, so basically they are using his name and that of Rachel Talalay to try and raise financing. $25m is a lot of money to raise for an indie feature and if Ennis is badmouthing creative choices at the same time, no right minded financier is going to touch it.

Looks like the kind of project for which the words 'Development Hell' were invented.

(Edited by Incandenza 18/06/2003 15:07)

Posted: 14:54 Jun 18 2003

pimpdaddy "Well I've seen Mel Gibson's movie the Passion and Mel Gibson says you are snakes and you are liars and if the roadwarrior said it, it must be true."-Eric Cartman

by Incandenza
(quotes)

$20m is a horrendous level for a budget for any movie.

Low budget movies ($2m and below) don't have to perform that well to recoup and have a certain art house credibility by dint of the budget.

Blockbuster movies ($50m and above) have (usually) spent enough money on sure-fire elements that will guarantee box office.

In between is that strange hinterland of mid-budget films that aren't big enough to have 'must see' blockbuster status or personal enough to appeal to the indie crowd.

Having checked out the details available online, I'd say this movie is nowhere near getting made at the moment.

Marsden has been 'attached' for over a year but hasn't signed anything, so basically they are using his name and that of Rachel Talalay to try and raise financing. $25m is a lot of money to raise for an indie feature and if Ennis is badmouthing creative choices at the same time, no right minded financier is going to touch it.

Looks like the kind of project for which the words 'Development Hell' were invented.

(Edited by Incandenza 18/06/2003 15:07)

I agree with that but for my mind there are only probably two directors out there who would do this film justice and they are Kevin Smith (who was attached as producer a while back) and Guileremo Del Toro (who is doing to the Hellboy adaption) both of whom are self confessed comic geeks

(Edited by pimpdaddy 18/06/2003 15:26)

Posted: 15:26 Jun 18 2003

Incandenza It's not a zero-sum game.

by pimpdaddy

I agree with that but for my mind there are only probably two directors out there who would do this film justice and they are Kevin Smith (who was attached as producer a while back) and Guileremo Del Toro (who is doing to the Hellboy adaption) both of whom are self confessed comic geeks

Don't see why being a comic geek is a necessary requirement.

There is, to date, no evidence that Smith has the visual vocabulary necessary to tackle this kind of story (whilst certainly having the literal vocabulary to handle the swearing) and Guillermo del Toro is a good director but no better than many others.

Sam Raimi did fine with Spiderman without being a 'comic geek' and apparently Ang Lee's Hulk is a tour de force without him ever reading one of the comics.

Films are films, comics are comics and the storytelling requirements are fundamentally different.

Posted: 16:04 Jun 18 2003

Spikeo I am Jack's quote

Sam Raimi is a huge self-confessed Spiderman fan

I would agree Smith doesn't really have the necessary visual style to do something of this nature. Del Toro would be excellent but I doubt he'll be touching this now he's presumably tied into Hellboy for the forseeable future.

Other suggestions:

Stephen Norrington (Blade)
Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers, Robocop et al)
Tony Scott (True Romance, Spy Game, etc)

(Edited by Spikeo 18/06/2003 18:08)

Posted: 18:07 Jun 18 2003

pimpdaddy "Well I've seen Mel Gibson's movie the Passion and Mel Gibson says you are snakes and you are liars and if the roadwarrior said it, it must be true."-Eric Cartman

Actually I could see both Stephen Norrington and Paul Verhoven both having a fairly good stab at this. A mate did suggest James Cameron but when he said that I quicklt slapped him due to the fact I think He has disappeared up his own A*** after Titanic.

Posted: 15:56 Jun 19 2003

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