Well back in August Ammon dropped the bad news that the PREACHER adaptation was DOA. Mark Steven Johnson was set to bring a mini-series based on the graphic comic to HBO. Well apparently HBO deemed it too violent and pulled the plug. Seems a movie version was also in the works a while ago with Kevin Smith’s View Askew attached and James Marsden starring. Shame…. but not really.
Word coming in today via The Hollywood Repoter has PREACHER very much alive and kicking! Except this time we’ll be looking to have the comic brought to the big screen instead of the little one! Good deal! And that’s not all! Seems like Columbia Pictures saw the potential in this twisted comic and picked up the rights, even signing a director already in the form of Sam Mendes. Oh, you heard me right, Sam Mendes! Some may not recognize the name, seeing how Mendes has never worked with a genre flick before, but there’s a first time for everything. Mendes’ previous credits include JARHEAD and the upcoming REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, as well as AMERICAN BEAUTY, which he scored a neat little gold statue named Oscar for. Not to mention the fact that Mendes is no stranger to comic adaptations, bringing ROAD TO PERDITION to the screen back in 2002. So I think it’s safe to assume PREACHER is in some very capable hands.
So now that the praise for Mr. Mendes is out of the way, let’s get into PREACHER. The comic is an award winning 75-issue series from Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. It centered on a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by Genesis, a supernatural entity conceived by the unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon. Given immense powers, the preacher teamed with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire and set out on a journey across America to find God — who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven — and hold him accountable for his negligence. Man, that sounds awesome as is, nevermind the fact that Mendes is now attached.
Original Films’ Neal Moritz is producing along with Jason Netter from Kickstart Productions. Ken Levin and Ori Marmur are executive producing. So far only Mendes is attached to the film, so as soon as we hear any news, like writers and/or stars, we’ll update you.
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