‘THE WOLVERINE’ – Starring HUGH JACKMAN, Directed By DARREN ARONOFSKY

'THE WOLVERINE': Starring HUGH JACKMAN and directed by DARREN ARONOFSKY

Source: HitFix.com

The film that [DARREN ARONOFSKY is] directing is officially called “The Wolverine,” and there won’t be a number attached to it.

…He referred to the movie as a “one-off,” and he emphasized that the film isn’t a sequel in any conventional sense.

Read more HERE.

‘X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE’ was utter shit but you really gotta hand it to HUGH JACKMAN. That he seems to love the character is of little doubt – and that’s a refreshing change of pace taking into consideration a Marvel property like HULK.

Bringing Aronofky on board shows that Jackman wants to make the Wolverine movie we all want to see. Now let’s see if they can deliver.

It’s Official: DARREN ARONOFSKY Directing WOLVERINE 2

DARREN ARONOFSKY (left) and HUGH JACKMAN

Source: NYMag.com

With Darren Aronofsky directing, [HUGH JACKMAN] says that Wolverine 2 will not be a “usual” X-Men movie:

“This is, hopefully for me, going to be out of the box. It’s going to be the best one, I hope.”

Also:

“Chris McQuarrie, who wrote THE USUAL SUSPECTS, has written the script, so that’ll give you a good clue [as to overall tone of the movie between screenwriter and director].”

Read more HERE.

‘PREACHER’ Update: DARREN ARONOFSKY In The Running As Director

DARREN ARONOFSKY: reportedly in the running as director of both the new SUPERMAN and PREACHER movies

Source: Newsarama

About once a year THRALL WORLD hears a new rumor regarding a PREACHER adaptation. Director SAM MENDES was attached briefly. Then he wasn’t attached. Before it got to Mendes it was being proposed as a 66 episode HBO series by MARK STEVEN HOWARD. Before that Ennis wrote a movie script himself.

The latest?

[Darren] Aronofsky is being targeted to direct Columbia Pictures’ big screen production of PREACHER, based on the comic book series published by Vertigo, DC Comics’ Mature Readers imprint. DC of course is also the publishing home to the MAN OF STEEL and a subsidiary of Warner Bros.

Given Superman is also targeting a 2011 production, Aronofsky would almost certainly be unable to direct both.

Read more HERE.

Aronofsky is hot coming off of his crtically acclaimed BLACK SWAN movie and the blogosphere on overdrive about the possibility he may direct the new SUPERMAN movie. Not the best fit but under CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’s collaborative and producing eye it could work.

Aronofsky on PREACHER? Now that sounds like a no bullshit brainer.

And THRALL WORLD maintains PREACHER would best be served as a 2-3 year 10 episode a season series on HBO or SHOWTIME with LANCE HENRICKSEN as THE SAINT OF KILLERS. The ‘Saint’ role was written with CLINT EASTWOOD in mind and the ‘Saint’ character plays a major part of the story, forcing the penultimate showdown in the story along with a “shock” prologue showdown as well.

Sounds like Nolan’s SUPERMAN is on a fast track so we should all know something soon one way or another.

Cover To PREACHER #1

Producer NEAL MORITZ Offers ‘PREACHER’ Movie Update – SAM MENDES No Longer Involved – Script Finished

Cover To PREACHER #1

Source: Collider.com

Director SAM MENDES, who THRALL WORLD posted a bit ago as being involved with the big screen adapt, is now officially OFF the movie. Mendes is going to direct the new JAMES BOND movie instead. Also:

JOHN AUGUST (writer and director of THE NINES, also screenwiter for several TIM BURTON movies – CORPSE BRIDE, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, BIG FISH – as well as CHARLIE’S ANGELS and GO) has finished the script and is interested in directing the movie as well. He ends the first movie in a way that they could continue with “a few movies rather than trying for just one film.”

[Producer NEAL MORITZ] envisions shooting Preacher in 2011.

Definitely rated R.

Read more HERE.

THRALL WORLD continues to believe PREACHER would best be served as a 2-3 year 10 episode per season series on HBO or SHOWTIME. A two hour movie will leave lots of interesting twists and turns from the 66+ issue series out. We remain optimstic of the potential movie based on the strength of Garth Ennis’ fantastic story.

And LANCE HENRICKSEN as THE SAINT OF KILLERS please? The role was written with CLINT EASTWOOD in mind but Clint’s pretty busy these days. We’ve always liked HENRICKSEN, particularly in the MILLENNIUM series.

For additional background on the PREACHER story itself go HERE.

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‘PREACHER’ Update: Director SAM MENDES Interviewd

Cover To PREACHER #1

Source: Collider.com EmpireOnline.com

Movie is still in script mode and shooting won’t begin until 2010 at the earliest.

Watch the video interview with Sam Mendes (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, ROAD TO PERDITION, AMERICAN BEAUTY) HERE.

For additional background on the PREACHER story itself go HERE.

THRALL WORLD believes PREACHER would best be served as a 2-3 year 10 episode per season series on HBO or SHOWTIME. A two hour movie will leave lots of interesting twists and turns from the 66+ issue series out. We remain optimstic of the potential movie based on the strength of Garth Ennis’ fantastic story.

And LANCE HENRICKSEN as THE SAINT OF KILLERS please? The role was written with CLINT EASTWOOD in mind but Clint’s pretty busy these days. We’ve always liked HENRICKSEN, particularly in the MILLENNIUM series.

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SAM MENDES On ‘PREACHER’ Movie Status: “No Script”

Cover To PREACHER #1

Source: EmpireOnline.com

As mentioned in a previous THRALL WORLD posting, director SAM MENDES is attached to an adaptation of DC comics popular Vertigo series PREACHER. The latest:

“I’d love to make Preacher,” he smiles. “But there’s no script.”

“…they should have written, ‘Mendes in development with Preacher’.”

Read more HERE.

For additional background on the PREACHER story itself go HERE.

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‘PREACHER’ Movie Moving Forward, Director SAM MENDES On Board

Cover To PREACHER #1

Source: Hollywood Reporter, Borys Kit and Leslie Simmons

Columbia Pictures has picked up the rights to “Preacher,” the popular 1990s Vertigo series, for an adaptation to be directed by Sam Mendes.

Created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, “Preacher,” which ran from 1995-2000, told the story of 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.

The project was previously set up as a one-hour series at HBO but was put into turnaround. Mark Steven Howard wrote a pilot which Howard Deutch was attached to direct.

Read more HERE.

From the Preacher wikipedia page:

The series consists of 75 issues in total — 66 regular, monthly issues, five one-shot specials and a four-issue Saint of Killers limited series. The entire run has been collected in nine trade paperback editions. The final monthly issue, number 66, was published in July 2000.

The HBO series would’ve been a great way to go but MARK STEVEN HOWARD wanted to do an episode per issue which raised a ton of red flags for me. PREACHER is one of the coolest comic series’ of its kind but you can read an issue in five minutes. There is no way you can stretch those books into an hour and keep it real. The show would have been best served as a 2-3 year 10 episode a season series. Somewhere in that ballpark.

So here we are on the flip side with the task of making a roughly 25 hour story into 2. Gonna be tough. There was a handful of pretty cool encounters that should be featured in any retelling of the story, most notabley; the opening story arc, the trip to France, the sideshow in New Orleans, the desert shootout, and the finale, not to mention some of the flashback/backstory sequences. I could be forgetting a chapter in there somewhere. The last time I read the series must have been around the time the series ended.

Oh and one more thing. LANCE HENRICKSEN as THE SAINT OF KILLERS please? The role was written with CLINT EASTWOOD in mind but Clint’s pretty busy these days. I’ve always liked HENRICKSEN, particularly in the MILLENNIUM series.

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