Three spooky options to announce this morning, one kid-friendly, two…very, very NOT kid-friendly.
¶ Paramount has snapped up the rights to Dave Roman’s AGNES QUILL. The book, illustrated by artists including Jason Ho, Jeff Zornow and Raina Telgemeier, has Thor Freudenthal (“Hotel for Dogs”) attached to direct, and Evan Spiliotopoulos on script. The book is the tales of a teenaged girl who inherits unearthly powers.
¶ Next up, HELLRAISER! Just in time for Halloween, French helmer Pascal Laugier, whose film, MARTYRS, shocked Gallic audiences with its horrific violence, has signed on to remake Clive Barker’s horror classic. The phrase “not for the squeamish” comes to mind.
ICM-repped Laugier at least seems to have thematic sympathies with the material, with his “Martyrs” beginning as a revenge movie then entering the grounds of spiritual horror, with torture figuring as a focal point. Torture — though not the so-called horror subgenre of torture porn — also is a key point in “Hellraiser.”
“This is a dream project for me,” Laugier said. “I know Clive Barker’s work very well, and I would never betray what he has done. Fans are expecting a definitive ‘Hellraiser,’ and I don’t want to take that away from them.”
¶ FInally, the news you have been waiting for: PREACHER is alive as a feature film, with Oscar®-winner Sam Mendes attached. You’ll recall that the ultra-violent, ultra-sacrilegious book by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon was in the works as a TV series at HBO for a while until execs realized just what they were dealing with. You’ll recall that Mendes already directed ONE comic book movie — the Oscar®-nominated ROAD TO PERDITION — so he’s no stranger to panels and whatnot.
Yay for Agnes Quill! Congrats Dave!
Congrats, Dave!!
The Preacher press release made the mistake of mentioning former director attached to the HBO poject as Mark Steven Howard.
It was Mark Stephen Johnson.
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Coat
Yay for Mr. Roman! and I hope this news means more Agnes Quill books as well!