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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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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Punisher: War Zone - Poster

I've just been reading and enjoying the superb Punisher MAX stories by Garth Ennis. Apparantly, the director, Lexi Alexander, based bits of the movie on them. Not seen the script so I can't say how much is from the comic. Ray Stevenson stars as Frank. I'm liking the look of the posters and the trailer a lot.

More posters for the film are here.