Sam Mendes to Direct Preacher!

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Sam Mendes to Direct Preacher!

October 29, 2008

Columbia Pictures has picked up the film rights to Preacher, the popular 1990s Vertigo series, for an adaptation to be directed by Sam Mendes (upcoming Revolutionary Road).

The Hollywood Reporter says Neal Moritz and his Original Films are producing with Kickstart Productions' Jason Netter.

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 Johnson wrote a pilot which Howard Deutch was attached to direct.

A previous movie version, to have been produced by Kevin Smith's View Askew, among others, got to the casting stage, with James Marsden attached for the title role and a reported budget of $25 million.

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Posted by: Cheese on October 29, 2008 at 16:23:09

Never heard abt this .......

Posted by: Frerezar on October 29, 2008 at 16:25:21

first, that wi be a great movie

Posted by: srh1son on October 29, 2008 at 16:25:26

I hope this gets made and it's done right. I wonder how they'll condense the narrative into a feature film (assuming there's no sequels). And I really question how much of the story will make it into the film, considering how offended audiences can get at religious material and how scared movie exces can be about not turning a profit.

Posted by: Broomstick on October 29, 2008 at 16:25:38

Why cant they make movies about popular characters ??? or is Preacher really that popular ????

Posted by: mysteri0 on October 29, 2008 at 16:25:45

hell yeah! beware of the stephmunk!

Posted by: Adam M on October 29, 2008 at 16:27:10

holy crap this is fantastic!!!! 'incredibly inspired director choice; from "Road to Perdition" to "Jarhead".. Mendes is a director with the right visionary sensibilities and grasp of character to present this material right! wow, 'just fantastic news, 'hope it plays out to reality!

Posted by: Frerezar on October 29, 2008 at 16:29:43

fhuck i got carried over by th e firstnes. Anyway, preacher is a very very very very dark fhuked up comic. An they might have to crate a new rating higher than R for it. Anyway idk about a movie for it, it is not very likeable, cool yeah, but not easily sold.

Posted by: Melies on October 29, 2008 at 16:30:59

If they screw this up...

MAN...

man am I gonna be pissed...

this is one of those jewels I never wanted to be made as a movie...

please don't go hollywood on this.

Posted by: Rampage on October 29, 2008 at 16:33:37

MUCH better than Mark Steven Johnson!!

Posted by: Mark Steven Johnson is an A-hole! on October 29, 2008 at 16:37:49

Mark Steven Johnson RUINED 2 comic book properties. Sam Mendes at least can potentially do a good job with this, if not great. Please, let's make sure Mark Steven Johnson NEVER WORKS AGAIN!!!

Posted by: 1manarmy on October 29, 2008 at 16:46:39

Yeah but 1 movie wont do preacher justice even a trilogy an HBO series seemed like a perfect fit. If he was planning on making it exactly like the comic even Mark Steven Johnson would have a hard time ****ing it up especially with guest directors comming in.

Posted by: nelson on October 29, 2008 at 16:50:54

james marsden would not be and choice for this he is pretty good as cyclops

Posted by: mred on October 29, 2008 at 17:04:20

Whew. Loved the comic (one of myfavorites of all time), but not sure how you do this in one movie? If they don't water it down tremendously, the fundamentalists are going to have heart attacks. I like it better as an HBO series.

Posted by: Spyweb88 on October 29, 2008 at 17:15:25

Man, I love this. While I liked the idea of the HBO 'mini-series' ideas, I think a movie (or two), done right, would be just as badass, particularly coming from a talented director like Sam Mendes. Mendes > Mark Steven Johnson.

Posted by: Uchiro on October 29, 2008 at 17:23:35

Man, this property gets passed around like a doobie! No one wants to touch it eh? an HBO series would have been so perfect for this its not even funny. I think Ennis wrote preacher just so it could one day be an HBO series. This new movie better be the start of a franchise. this is not a one movie story. and please no marsden as jesse custer. he's the worst pile of crap actor

Posted by: Cy-Ed on October 29, 2008 at 17:29:04

sounds good, but if it gets made this time
(were talking Da Vinci Code level religious outrage)

Posted by: mud on October 29, 2008 at 17:36:41

*snore*

Posted by: Pancake on October 29, 2008 at 18:40:35

This really needed to be the HBO series. the story is just too big. Cramming it all into a 2 hour movie (or even 3 2 hour movies) will effectively gut the whole thing. *sigh* Some things would be better off as TV series, and this is one of them. After stuff like Oz, Rome, and Carnivale, HBO was probably the only source I would have had enough faith in to not screw this up. Oh well.

Posted by: SB on October 29, 2008 at 18:42:24

Oh, this is going to be a hard one. I liked the HBO series idè, but Mendes is a MUCH better choice as a director. James Marsden, though, I don't know. I always kinda saw a young Matthew McConaughey as Jesse. I don't know. I would maybe go with unknown actors, but then it may be harder to sell.
I second "Melies" statement:
"If they screw this up...MAN....."
Maybe the greates comic book of all time!!!! It has potencial to be one of the greates movie series if they do it right...

Posted by: Tyson316 on October 29, 2008 at 18:50:21

I love these a holes on here who have never read or heard of this comic but feel they need to comment on it or call it boring. Wow. This is one of the best comic books of all time and they better do it right.

Posted by: nelson on October 29, 2008 at 19:11:11

i want guy pearce as custer

Posted by: a NINJA on October 29, 2008 at 19:39:02

i was just listening to " I still havent found what Im looking for " while I read the plot outline

i think it goes along great :]

sounds very original and funny, id definintly check it out

Posted by: frerezar is dumb on October 29, 2008 at 19:49:14

Frerezar "An they might have to crate a new rating higher than R for it."
Do you mean something like NC-17 that already exists?

Posted by: shroud on October 29, 2008 at 20:13:13

Im glad the Mark Steven Johnson series got shot down. hopfully he never direct anything comic book related.

I hope this is more promising.

Posted by: The One on October 29, 2008 at 20:29:55

I think it will be quite cool,If they have enough b@lls to stick to source material.If not,then don't bother.Oh and I think Jeremy Sisto would be a good Jesse Custer.

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