Preacher - First draft is written says Sam Mendes

Chatting with MTV News this weekend about his upcoming film Away We Go, director Sam Mendes mentioned a few details about the status of his much-anticipated, big-screen version of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s comic book series, Preacher. He did say that screenwriter John August is moving along with his first draft.

“He’s doing pretty well,” Mendes told MTV News, “He’s about halfway through. There’s a long way to go yet, but I’m very, very hopeful. I think it could be amazing.”

The only other fact that Mendes is sure of at this point is that, while he can envision the film as a franchise, he’s going to give his all to make the first film great and self-contained.

“You have to try and get one really good and then, if you’re lucky, you can make a second or a third,” said Mendes. “You can create something that’s going to run. But I think that there’s certainly more than enough for one good movie and plenty left over.”

Though casting is still a long way off, Mendes seemed excited at the prospect of bringing the characters to life, saying the series has some “real good roles in there”.

I am a big, big Preacher fan (I've got all the original issues) and would love to see this on the big screen. The fact it could be spin out into more than one film is great news as it is a huge story and it would be foolish to chuck it all into one. Mind you a TV series would have been better for the story, but that was shelved a while back.

Now what do you want to see in the first Preacher film? Who should play Jesse, Tulip, Cassidy, The Saint of Killers, Herr Starr and Arseface? Do you think Mendes is the right choice to direct it?

Leave a comment on this post below.

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UPDATED: Splice - Cool photos of Dren are out

Bloody Disgusting have these photos of Splice. The new film by Vincenzo Natali. I posted other photos a while back.

It stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as scientists who create a new life form called Dren (Delphine Chanéac). Think Dren can feel the love from them above.

UPDATE: Executive produced by Guillermo del Toro, the film tells of Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists who defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named Dren, the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators - only to have that bond turn deadly.
Sounds a bit like Frankenstein with a hint of Species but an awful lot of First Born - that old TV show with Charles Dance who plays a scientist who spliced together human and animal DNA (Gorilla to be precise) to create a new organism. This time the kid was called Gor. You can guess how that turned out.
I still think Dren looks like Herr Starr from the Preacher comics with that weird scar she's got.

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The Random - True Lies 2, Preacher, Heath Ledger, Benjamin Button, Torso, London Boulevard, G.I. Joe, Star Trek

Tom Arnold is talking about getting True Lies II together again, and with Arnold Schwarzenegger on board - “If all goes as planned, the day Arnold leaves office, we will again team with Jim Cameron and do a comedy. Jim says it might not be called True Lies II, but it will be fun.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, John August will be stepping in for scripting duties on the adaption of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher. Sam Mendes is still down to direct it. Wouldn't it be cool if they could get Clint Eastwood to play the Saint of Killers.

Heath Ledger’s ‘Dark Knight’ Oscar Nomination arrives on the Anniversary Of his death.

The LATimes have the interesting news that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button may not be profitable despite being nominated for a load of Oscars.

Paramount has let the rights to the novel behind the film adaptation of Torso lapse meaning David Fincher's planned film is all up in the air. Paramount had an option on the novel and had the rights to extend that option but let that slip last month. The Hollywood Reporter has more.

Colin Farrell is to star in London Boulevard with Keira Knightley. The crime drama based on Ken Bruen's novel of the same name, is to be directed by the writer of The Departed, William Monahan, who is making his directorial debut. Farrell will be playing a London-based criminal just released from a stint in prison who tries to give up his gangster way of life by becoming a handyman for a reclusive actress, played by Knightley. First Showing have more.

Entertainment Weekly spoke to Stephen Sommers about G.I. Joe - "I always loved the old Bonds. It's funny now how Bond wants to be Bourne. I loved Quantum of Solace, but it was like, man, this is a completely different movie to the Bonds I grew up with. In a very contemporary way, G.I. Joe is inspired by the memory of the kind of movies I saw when I was younger. I remember being in the theater for Thunderball and the big underwater battle at the end of that movie just blew my socks off. In G.I. Joe, there's an underwater battle under the polar icecap that's Thunderball times 10!"

USAToday.com has a first look at the new line of Star Trek toys which will be released in association with JJ Abrams’ new film. The Transporter PlaySet comes with Scotty and features real transporter beam effects (I assume that doesn't mean the ability to teleport objects is contained within it's plastic structure).

UPDATED: Splice - Photo of Dren or is it Herr Starr after Jesse Custer got hold of him?

Shocktillyoudrop have this photo of Dren, the human/creature created by Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley scientists in Vincenzo Natali's Splice. Actress Delphine Chanéac plays Dren.

Executive produced by Guillermo del Toro, the film tells of Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists who defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named Dren, the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators - only to have that bond turn deadly.

UPDATE: I mentioned it in the comment but had to alter the heading for this post. That scar on Dren's head is most unfortunate (I imagine in the film it will open up into some kind of weird mouth thing like the old Sci-Fi channel link), and is very much like the scar Jesse Custer carved into Herr Starr's head in Preacher. Anyone else see what I mean?

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The Random

/film have some photos of Kick-Ass himself played by Aaron Johnson.

Cinema Blend say that the Dr Strange film that Marvel think will be made some time after 2012, could be starring Batman himself Christian Bale.

It looks like Preacher might finally make its way to the big screen. Columbia Pictures has picked up the rights to adapt the series into a feature film, with American Beauty/Road to Perdition director Sam Mendes attached to helm the project.

TheBadandUgly.com give us an actual glimpse of what Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson will look like on the big screen.

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Preacher still searching for the Lord

The adaptation of Garth Ennis' "Preacher" won't be happening at HBO according to Comics Continuum. Preacher is a great comic but looks as if the likes of Cassidy, Jesse Custer, John Wayne, The Saint of Killers, Arse-Face, Starr, and the inbred descendant of Jesus Christ will have to hold their horses a little longer.

Director Mark Steven Johnson ("Ghost Rider," "Daredevil") is serving as showrunner on the project blames the dissolution squarely on new management.

"We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going. But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point!" says Johnson.

Johnson says it was a "nearly word for word" very faithful adaptation of the first few books and that they offered him the chance to redevelop it but he refused. Thus "I'm afraid it's dead at HBO" says Johnson.

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