Lost star Matthew (Dr. Jack) Fox is going to be joining writer-director Jeffery Nachmanoff (Traitor) for Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Oni Press’s indie comic Billy Smoke.
Never heard of Billy Smoke? That’s because it’s not even out yet: Oni Press will be publishing the comic (about a rogue assassin) sometime this year.
Fox will be playing a hit man who nearly loses his life when a job goes bad. Realizing the evil he has done, the assassin has a grand change of heart, declaring that the only way to truly redeem himself is to rid the world of all assassins (a pretty lofty goal).
I don’t know… I shouldn’t judge a comic book by its cover, but this concept makes me feel like writer B. Clay Moore and illustrator Eric Kim saw the film version of Wanted last Summer and were suddenly “inspired” with the idea for Billy Smoke. I know it didn’t happen that way, but upon first glance, it definitely seems like it. Guess we’ll have a chance to see how closely Billy Smoke compares (or doesn’t) with Wanted once the comic hits stores.
I have to say though, as far as the film version goes, I do have some measure confidence in Jeffery Nachmanoff. I thought Traitor was an excellent (and underrated) film.
What do you think, does Billy Smoke sound like the kind of movie you want to see? And does Matthew Fox seem like the actor to carry it?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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I don’t normally reply in these talkback sections, but I wanted to let you know that A) I still haven’t seen the Wanted movie, and B) Billy Smoke was pitched to Oni and approved well over two years ago, long before Wanted debuted. As it happens, Eric and I first conceived the project after bumping into each other at a Toronto convention in 2005.
I appreciate you giving it the benefit of the doubt, though.
We’re actually aiming for an April 2010 release of the graphic novel, hopefully to debut in Chicago.
Cool! Thanks for chiming in Clay!
Now that I opened my big mouth I guess I’ll have to take a look at the series! Looking forward to it!
Sounds interesting. I’ll surely keep an eye on this one.
PS: It also looks a bit like Chuck’s backstory (the part about Bryce Larkin in the beginning), at least that’s what came to my mind when I was reading the post. But I guess it can work out to very different directions so I hope they make it refreshing.