Will DJ Caruso be the one to helm Preacher?

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Over the past few days there have been some projects trying to come out of development hell, today we have another one to discuss–PREACHER.

This adaptation has been passed from director to director never truly finding a match that will stick. The big problem is the material. Preacher is such a graphic, brutal story with some shit that people will find hard to swallow. Of course, this isn’t a common thing. But writer Garth Ennis has a long history of penning crazy, f*cked up shit that he would like who ever eventually takes it to be faithful to. John August (BIG FISH) wrote the screenplay with Neil Moretz set to produce. Moretz said that August’s script is, “a really faithful adaptation but made it probably more accessible to a broader audience.”

Peter from /Film is reporting that one of his “well placed Hollywood spies” informed him that DJ Caruso (DISTURBIA, I AM NUMBER FOUR) is in talks to direct the big-screen adaptation of PREACHER. This following some news last September from Moretz saying that “another unnamed director has apparently signed on”. Several directors have been rumored like Joe Carnahan (THE A TEAM) and Darren Aronofsky apparently expressed interest. Sam Mendes was hired by Columbia Pictures at one point but dropped it to go after the BOND job. James Marsden was on board early on to star as Jesse for the HBO series adaptation directed by Mark Steven Johnson. This also fell through.

Kevin Smith was interested as well and through Twitter gave /Film the real story on the project when his hands were on it: “Preacher was never “set up” at View Askew with a $25mil budget. At one point, Garth & Steve grabbed a beer & burger with me & @SMosier at the Tribeca Grill, where we said “Use our names for whatever our names are worth.” Our names were worth bupkis. @SMosier & I pitched it to BobWeinstein, who said “I don’t get it. This is a comic book? The Crow I get. This? No.” And that was the extent of our involvement with Preacher: a beer & burger & a no from Bob. It was Rachel Talalay’s flick; me & @SMosier were just fans of the book & the creative team of Garth & Steve. James Marsden was never involved during this period (which wasn’t even a period, so much as a three day stretch).”

Well all that history aside, let’s hope DJ Caruso is a rumor. Really, aside from THE SALTON SEA (which I adore) Caruso just doesn’t fit the bill for me. This isn’t amateur hour kids. This is big game. I mean this all in the nicest possible way of course. This is just something I really think could be amazing if handled by the right people.