There are more changes afoot for the Blumhouse-backed new Spawn movie, which has been going through a variety of development issues, and especially where its script is concerned. While character creator Todd McFarlane had been working on drafts, he's handing the job off to Joker's Scott Silver, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's Malcolm Spellman and writer/director Matt Mixon.
McFarlane, who introduced Spawn in 1992 in the pages of Image Comics, had been guiding the new movie, looking to direct and hiring Jamie Foxx to star as a former black-ops agent who makes a deal with a demon after being betrayed and killed. The demon allows him to return to Earth, but when he returns, five years have passed, his wife has moved on, and he roams Earth as a disfigured spawn of hell.
Now, though, he tells The Hollywood Reporter that he's having second thoughts on the directing front. "If we’ve got an A-list actor, A-list producers, A-list writers, then do you want to shoot for A-list directors, A-list cinematographers?" McFarlane says. "The answer is, ‘of course.’ Let’s keep the momentum going."
The momentum has been somewhat stalled on this one, with McFarlane trying to secure backing more than once. But with the new writers, it has a chance to move forward. "I grew up in Berkeley, which is a comic book city. Todd McFarlane’s Spawn character was always one of my favorites — a Black superhero that was no bullshit, he was cool and dealt with modern issues," says Spellman. "Myself, Matt Mixon, and Scott Silver are pledged to honoring what Todd started and what Spawn is at its core, delivering something that’s relevant and edgy and unlike any other superhero movie out there."
We'll see if this one really does get going…
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