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Millar Comments on Wanted 2 Screenwriter
April 21, 2009
Last week, it was announced that Evan Spiliotopoulos has been hired to write the script for Universal's Wanted 2, based on a story by Chris Morgan. There was some negative feedback as Spiliotopoulos is credited as co-writer of Pooh's Heffalump Movie and its DVD Halloween spin-off. But Mark Millar, creator of the graphic novel and producer on the sequel, says that's not why he was brought on board.
"Never listen to any commentators as they never know anything about who's coming back, etc. It's just speculation and 99% of the time these guys don't have access to the people who know. 'Wanted 2' is being made in a very tight circle at the moment," Millar said on his message board.
"As a producer on the thing, I'm excited. I know who's in it and after doing 342 million at the box office we have [serious] money to spend on everything from cast to crew to script."
About Spiliotopoulos, he added that "This guy is supposed to be really good. He did a GREAT action script recently (on an unproduced movie) and that's what got him this gig."
Timur Bekmambetov is again directing and James McAvoy is expected to return for the lead role.
Related Articles From Other SitesPosted by: Lance Buckner on April 21, 2009 at 11:24:58
We shall see.
Posted by: ERN-DIZ on April 21, 2009 at 11:25:22
i still havnt seen the 1st one
but i take it its at least decent
Posted by: masteryoda007 on April 21, 2009 at 11:26:49
Good news....Wanted the movie was great. Hopefully McAvoy signs up soon.
Posted by: BEN HUR on April 21, 2009 at 11:28:43
hmm. Liked the first one, don't see why this one wouldn't be good. I'm guessing 2011 release. I just hope that people come out for it even though Angelina isn't involved this time
Posted by: H on April 21, 2009 at 11:35:33
are we going to see Winnie the Pooh curve a bullet and look it to the camera and say what the **** hhave u dont lately. cause if we do. im buying my ticket now. sound so great. i bet Eeyore will be a badass, shoot tigger in the head.
Posted by: NOT A TUMOR on April 21, 2009 at 11:38:16
I am soo happy that Mark Millar has accepted the fact that he is a sell out, and that his vision of Wanted was preverted by Hollywood writers, so he could make a ton of dough.
The graphic novel was excellent, as most books are before they are made into movies.
Another one bites the dust.
Posted by: jim on April 21, 2009 at 11:47:37
Go Spiliotopoule!!!
Posted by: Eric on April 21, 2009 at 11:48:47
WANTED sucked. I loved the graphic novel and really wanted to like the movie. I was very disappointed. It was nothing like the novel... nothing. So a sequel makes perfect sense. Maybe they could use the other 98% of the source material that went untouched in the first movie.
Posted by: Comicd00d on April 21, 2009 at 12:08:45
The first movie was so terrible I fail to see how this one couldn't be, even the tiniest bit, better.
Posted by: linglingo_turned_Merc_goes_postal_with_a_Mouth!!! on April 21, 2009 at 12:13:41
I liked Wanted, I love the comics too! I believe the studio looked at the original treatment and had this fear..."Dear god, there's no way in hell they could have made those comics into a film...people ALL OVER the DC universe's ownnership rights would have sued the pants off of them, if you've read the comic, you know exactly what I'm talking about....alot of that stuff in those books is WAY TOO CLOSE for comfort for the Hollywood crowd to take a chance on"...another big problem was the fact that it had to be set up a particular way due to a simple issue...budget. Yes my friends a budget. You see, Wanted is a story of a league of assassins who kill "high profile" targets. But the secret behind THAT secret is...THEY'RE ALL SUPERHEROES NOW! Another problem was that they WANTED (pun intended) to tell the story the right way to the 99 percent of people who watched it and haven't read the comics. So, where better to start than an origin story and make sure to use that freshman budget(let's face it, a loose interpretation of the superhero arc of the story will be expensive as all get out, and they just didn't have money...YET!). Here's where, I'm hoping, they will find a happy medium not only for us the fanboys, but for them (majority) the fans and critics of the movie. Now that they've made all this money, they can delve deeper into the Fraternity and Wes can find the REAL motives for the Fraternity on it's grandest scale. They can ease back from that fear of the characters being similar(see Watchmen) and go right into making the second part the beginning of the Superhero Slayage Saga, as I like to call it, pretty much right off the top of my head just now, lol, but whatever. Anyway, bring in those lovable characters from the books(not all of course, too much at once, but still some standouts) and really sell it as the first ever SUPERVILLAIN film. Yes, the first Wanted could be classified as that too seeing how they all did seem to have certain "meta" tendencies, but really explore that and let it be known, not just hinted at, that that is what's going down. This could be the Empire Strikes Back of the Wanted trilogy...Dark, Brooding, Main Characters Questioning Everything they Know or Believe in, Death, Loss, More Death, More Loss, DARKER DARKER DARKER..AAANNNDDD CLIFFHANGER AND CUT! Then segway into the epic third act where all hell of a war breaks loose on all fronts with neither good nor bad winning out in the end of the third film, just Wesley. Mr. Millar, Mr. Spiliotopoulos, Mr. Morgan, Mr.Bekmambetov, Universal...Please, you can do this...I hope one of you or someone you are close to see this message, you are sitting on a goldmine with a BIG way to turn this into a multilayered cash cow and legacy that will span ages, diversities, sexes, cultures, and decades by bringing in the superhero/villain dynamic(the hottest thing in hollywood I might add) with a clever twist of your already established action/scifi/fantasy world you have set up with Wanted. This isn't just from a fanboy....but a man in the business, an entrepreneur, an economist, and a fad genre slave. Grab it while it's hot boys! Ck OUT!
Posted by: Whocares on April 21, 2009 at 12:14:02
Did the first one really make that much?? I find that hard to believe, based on it's suck factor of 10.
Posted by: Vance Astro on April 21, 2009 at 12:20:02
There's alot of artistic license in parody. They could have used the characters from the book. They'd have been sued surely, but they'd have won so long as it was comedic and had some punches.
Posted by: You've been p@wnd on April 21, 2009 at 12:29:53
For one thing I am sick and tired of all you whiny fan boys that ***** that the movie wasn't just like the graphic novel. What the hell do you except, in order to make a movie you have to understand demographics. They made a badass action flick that appealed to a wide variety. If they had made Wanted just like the book, then I assure you that it wouldnt had been as successful. Because even before they decided to make the movie Wanted wasnt as mainstream. So what the hell is the point of making a movie if your not gonna make money because thats how the buisness works jackholes. And on a second note if having a job like Mark Miller's and getting paid what he gets paid then i guess i would be a sell out too. Not to mention Miller is one hell of a writer, so to all you nay sayers shut your holes.
Posted by: The Black Lantern on April 21, 2009 at 12:32:50
Wanted was the worst movie I have seen in a long time. The only thing good about was hearing Easy Reader use curse words. Other than that this piece of garbage should never have been made.
Posted by: Vance Astro on April 21, 2009 at 12:35:50
There's a huge difference in basing a plot on the source material and basing a plot on nothing at all. WANTED didn't have one iota to do with the comic except for the main characters name. Not that it was a bad film, but you can't say it was really based on anything.
Posted by: Vance Astro on April 21, 2009 at 12:37:05
That said, they should have just named the film "Skinny Assassin" or "Magic Loom Killerz"
Posted by: PROZAC-PEDRO on April 21, 2009 at 12:42:40
I thought the first one was kinda weak.
It could have been good but... a litle weak.
Posted by: BigDon on April 21, 2009 at 12:46:35
In the first Wanted he should have at least had the costume and mask. It's not a hard one to pull off on film and it looks bad ass! Hopefully they do it in the sequel.
Posted by: Franky M on April 21, 2009 at 13:26:24
Both Angelina and McAvoy need to eat some burgers or something. Oh and Wanted stank.
Posted by: Vance Astro on April 21, 2009 at 13:30:22
It was hilarious , the scene where Jolie stood up naked out of that healing bath, half the theatre made wretching noises and then burst into laughter... I'll never forget that.
I never understood the reason for casting a skeleton woman with tiny mop-handle arms as a big bad bruiser. Still a good flick tho. I'll enjoy anything by that director.
Posted by: Vance Astro on April 21, 2009 at 13:37:38
The Skarsgard thing isn't a definite. He just said that he hasn't been called back yet... They're still a long way off from making that film, but I hope they have some good casting ideas.
For instance: same actor for both Thor and Donald Blake? I always pictured them resembling each other in the comics.
Posted by: Wesley Gibson, son of +CROSS+ on April 21, 2009 at 13:45:17
I bet Spiliotopoulos wrote the Pooh movies purely as a, for the money, paycheck gig. No normal guy is going to WANT to write a hole movie about Winnie the Fecies.
WANTED 2 is the kind of movie that your average, male, Spike TV watching writer would WANT to write, no pun intended.
Posted by: authorNYSE on April 21, 2009 at 14:16:37
So I gather from linglingo_turned_Merc_goes_postal_with_a_Mouth!!! that Hollywood did WANTED with the blessing of Millar the same way they should have done WATCHMEN. I like WATCHMEN but loved the motion comic. As a live-action film it did not thrill people, like JustSomeRandomGuy said it was a 3 hour physics lecture. Thats what the book is but it didn't have a thrilling translation to screen. WANTED was right up the melting pot alley just like Fast & Furious was.
I honestly would love to see the Wesley costume now. After the pussified Spider-Man 2, WANTED for me was a welcomed display of balls. BTW, Spider-Man 3 was classic for smacking the whoring MJ alone! He's Spider-Man, get over your insecurites MJ.
Posted by: Eric on April 21, 2009 at 14:34:03
Here's an idea... why not take a great alter ego character like Hal Jordan because you really like the idea of a "Man without Fear" and subtract everything else from the story like the Ring, the Lantern, Sinestro and outer-space and make a movie and still call it "Green Lantern" - that's what they did to WANTED.
Posted by: badmotrfngr on April 21, 2009 at 15:12:27
Huh, huh,.....he said POOH.
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