Mark Millar talks Sam Raimi or Guy Ritchie directing Nemesis

Nemesis, the new comic creation from Mark Millar and Steve McNiven has gained some major interest. Back in December, Millar gave some details on the Marvel character, beginning with, “What if Batman was a total c*nt?”

Think of Nemesis as the genius billionaire villain. He’s not cooperating with Commissioner Gordon, he’s kicking his ass. Plus, Nemesis is using his money and status to do evil things.

Millar took to his own forums to address a rumor about Sam Raimi directing Nemesis:

“Can I just stomp this rumour before it gets any further? This week CAA was approached by an A-list director to buy Nemesis before it goes to auction in March. Then Sam announces he’s not involved in the Spider-Man franchise any more, pursuing other projects. A lot of movie sites got in touch last night asking if the two stories are linked, but I just want to make it clear that Sam is not the guy who contacted my agent. I actually think he’s one of the three best living directors and would be honoured to have him on anything I do, but he’s not the guy who got in touch and the truth is that I’m not taking this out until March as originally planned. I want to have the whole thing finished before anybody reads it as Steve and I think we’re onto something pretty special here. Civil War and Old Man Logan were massive hits, but the interest in this from the moment we even said the title has just been unprecedented. We want to make sure this goes to the right guy, though Raimi would actually be an amazing choice and it would be a hilarious middle-finger to all the suits he just walked away from. I’ll keep you posted.”

Then yesterday Millar the hype machine starts a new topic titled, ‘Raimi directing Nemesis might not be crazy at all!’. For his first post he writes:

“Things move fast in Hollywoodland. I just woke up to some VERY unexpected emails…To be continued.”

Someone then asks if this is based on an advanced copy of the script or just KICK-ASS buzz:

“Nobody has seen the scripts yet. The interest in based on Wanted doing 350 mill, insane buzz around town on Kick-Ass and that CBR interview where the Nemesis high concept was explained and visual released. It’s pretty crazy, but a lot of people are trying to get this before it goes elsewhere. Have another thing coming with Leinil after Summer and someone made an offer for this without even knowing what it is. Crazy times.”

Then finally someone else suggests that Guy Ritchie should direct:

“I was actually going to talk to Guy about it in the next couple of weeks, but wondered if a brilliant cop versus brilliant supervillain might be too much like Sherlock Holmes. I’m seeing Matthew [Vaughn] this week and will see what he reckons. Like you said… exciting times.”

Man, as soon as this guy comes up with something, someone wants to snatch it up. I know some of you don’t care for his writing, but I really like it. If he keeps cranking out more good ideas, we should be seeing more and more from the world of Millar.