Todd McFarlane has secretly been working on a script for a new Spawn movie since Marvel started to gain traction with the MCU. A few times over the past few years, McFarlane spoke about the secret script that would push Spawn (the character) back into the shadows. In early versions of the script, the anti-hero took a back-seat to Sam and Twitch, two police officers, essentially making the film a police procedural.
Newer versions of the script appear to show that the film has evolved from the police procedural type to something more akin to a dark horror tale. Spawn is now closer to the Boogeyman, rather than your typical superhero.
Jamie Foxx has signed on to star as the anti-hero in Spawn according to Deadline. The film is coming from Blumhouse, the Sinister and Insidious. The film is written and will be directed by McFarlane, the man who created the comic for Image Comics.
In this new version of Spawn, the hero will be a creature who lurks in the shadows. He only appears in peak moments to amplify the fear of the moment. Can a horror movie work where the main character or villain is also the hero? Who knows. Here is what McFarlane had to say about the new script:
“The scariest movies, from Jaws to John Carpenter’s The Thing, or The Grudge and The Ring, the boogeyman doesn’t talk. It confuses people because of the comic book industry, and because they all default into their Captain America mindset and I keep saying, no, get into John Carpenter’s mindset or Hitchcock. This is not a man in a rubber suit, it’s not a hero that’s going to come and save the damsel. It’s none of that.
At the end of the movie, I’m hoping that the audience will say either, is this a ghost that turns into a man, or is it a man that turns into a ghost? I’ve got a trilogy in mind here, and am not inclined in this first movie to do an origin story. I’m mentally exhausted from origin stories. Luckily, there’s a movie that just came out that helps my cause. In A Quiet Place, the first thing on screen is a card in black and white letters that says Day 89. It doesn’t care about what happened in those first 88 days.
There are a couple headlines, but then we are on day 450. That movie doesn’t worry about explaining and giving all the answers. What it said, in that case, was, if you can hang on for a story of survival of this family, this movie will make complete sense for you.”
At the end of the movie, I’m hoping that the audience will say either, is this a ghost that turns into a man, or is it a man that turns into a ghost? I’ve got a trilogy in mind here, and am not inclined in this first movie to do an origin story. I’m mentally exhausted from origin stories. Luckily, there’s a movie that just came out that helps my cause. In A Quiet Place, the first thing on screen is a card in black and white letters that says Day 89. It doesn’t care about what happened in those first 88 days.
McFarlane also spoke about why he feels that Jamie Foxx is the perfect actor for Spawn. It’s not because of how he delivers lines either:
“There are five or six moments where I’m going to need things from my actors. A couple of them have to come from Jamie, and I’ve seen him deliver them onscreen. He gets into a zone. With body language and a look that basically will say way more than anything i could type on a piece of paper. And this movie is going to need those moments.
And in the odd moment where he has to deliver a line that’s short, curt and has impact, he can do it in a way that makes you go, ‘whoa, I don’t want to mess with that guy. What a badass.’”
