‘Villains’ To Be ‘Fight Club’ Style Dark

Kofi Outlaw — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:11:18 +0000

We’ve only touched briefly on the big-screen adaptation of Viper Comics’ Villains which Universal Pictures has in the works, but today we’ve got a bit more on what can be expected of the movie.

Villains follow Nick Corrigan, 20-something dweeb who discovers his elderly neighbor used to be a major supervillain. When it comes time to ‘do the right thing’ and turn the bad guy in to police, Nick instead makes a darker choice, blackmailing the man into training him to become one of most badass supervillains the world has ever seen.

It’s quite an unusual take on the superhero/supervillain genre and (though I’ve never read the comic) it’s safe to say that a “protagonist” like Nick Corrigan is going to be hard for the average moviegoer to sympathize with. So which Hollywood filmmakers are good at making dark characters shine bright?

According to producer Sean Bailey, guys like Michael Mann (Public Enemies) or David Fincher (Fight Club):

“My personal ambition is to have it be operatic and epic. If Michael Mann or David Fincher were ever to go make one of these movies, what would that look like? That’s my hope for it. To be in that kind of world….If you look at any war movie or any crime movie, who the hero is, is solely a question of the point of view…So we wanted to look at the rise of a villain—why and how it happened. It’s got a different slant than you’ve seen.”

Hmmm… I like the way Bailey pitches the concept, ‘a look at the rise of a villain—why and how it happened.’ We all know what made a young man like Peter Parker become Spider-Man and fight for good, however, in post-Columbine/Virginia Tech era, don’t we owe to ourselves to confront the question of what makes young people go bad? If the filmmakers present Villains in that kind of social context, the film could be one interesting ‘comic book movie’ indeed.

Of course, there will be invetiable comparrisons to Matthew Vaughn’s (fantastic looking) adaptation of Kick-Ass, which tells the oppossing story of a young man who decides to become a superhero.

No word yet what Villains will focus on: Matt Jennison and Brent Strickland, the duo who wrote the stalled Wonder Woman movie, turned in a draft of the scipt to Universal recently, and are now at work on a rewrite, based on the studio’s notes.

For now, I will be keeping an eye on Villains to see how it ultimately develops. No word yet on a release date.

Source: MTV Splash Page

Universal Bringing Villains To The Movies

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:50:52 +0000

Do not be alarmed! The third season of Heroes that everybody (but me) hates so much is NOT getting a feature film extension. Instead, Universal pictures has announced a movie adaptation of Viper Comics’ miniseries Villains, the tale of young kid who discovers his destiny is becoming a supervillain, rather than a superhero.

If that premise sounds too much like Wanted (the OK comic book, not the terrible movie), go ahead and start launching the cynical remarks. However, if Heroes and Wanted haven’t completely spoiled the idea of a villain-driven narrative for you yet, take a look at some of the details about the film adaptation of Villains and then see how you feel.

The Villains comic book miniseries was launched in 2006 by indie publisher Viper Comics. It was written by Adam Cogan and drawn by Ryan Cody. The plot followed the journey of Nick Corrigan, a 20-something loser who one day discovers that his elderly neighbor used to be the nefarious supervillain known as Hardliner. Instead of doing the “heroic” thing and turning Hardliner over to the proper authorities, Nick decides to blackmail the old man into training him in the use of the super-suit that was once the source of Hardliner’s evil powers. Nick’s new destiny: become one of the most badass super villains the world has ever seen.

Villains gained critical praise for its twisted vision of the superhero origin story–its sales, however, were just ok. The movie will likely be the first many people have heard of the series. A script is being written by Matt Jennison and Brent Strickland, the duo who wrote the script for the stalled Wonder Woman movie. Indie production company Idealogy is handling the film, with Idealogy execs Sean Bailey (Gone Baby Gone) co-producing along with Viper Comics’ Jessie Garza. Matt Smith is executive producing.

Kudos to all the indie-flavored comics currently getting the big-screen treatment (Watchmen, Fathom, Black Hole, and Kick-Ass). It’s nice to know that the whole spectrum of the comic book cannon is fair game for the Hollywood makeover. But are we really ready for another movie that’s all about the bad guy?

What do you think? Is Villains something you want to see in theater near you?

Source: Super Hero Hype & MTV Splash Page

Screen Rant » villains

‘Villains’ To Be ‘Fight Club’ Style Dark

Universal Bringing Villains To The Movies