Jake Gyllenhaal has taken the lead role in the comic-book adaptation of Rob Liefeld's Prophet, which will be directed by Sam Hargrave for Studio 8. Liefeld created Prophet in the pages of his Image Comics series, Youngblood, in 1992. John Prophet starts off as a homeless man who volunteers to participate in medical experiments by an evil, time-traveling doctor, which gives him superhuman strength. Eventually, Prophet's "programming" is changed to good, and he's put in stasis in order to be able to fight evil disciples in the future. His origins are similar in design to that of Captain America and/or Bucky Barnes, AKA The Winter Soldier, but set within the Image Comics universe.
Gyllenhaal most recently starred as the villain Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home and is currently starring in the Antoine Fuqua-directed, The Guilty, on Netflix. The actor recently wrapped a lead role in Michael Bay's 2022 action film, Ambulance, and is currently slated to star alongside Jessica Chastain in The Division, based on the Tom Clancy Ubisoft game. The actor has a stack of projects on his docket, including the recently announced adaptation of Robert Kirkman's Image Comic, Oblivion Song, in which Gyllenhaal will star as the lead as well.
Now, Gyllenhaal is stacking another comic-book property onto his resume, as he's set to play the lead in Prophet, according to THR, which will be directed by Extraction's Sam Hargrave from a script by Arrow's Marc Guggenheim. The story sounds similar to the comic-book origins with THR reporting it as Prophet volunteering "for a Nazi experiment near the end of World War II" but is buried in a bombing, only to awaken 20 years later in the year 1965 where things get worse. "The world has moved on without him, his daughter resents him, and KGB agents are after him to create super-soldiers from his blood" says the report. Studio 8 CEO Jeff Robinov says that they've been trying to get Gyllenhaal and Hargrave together on a project. Robinov will produce Prophet alongside John Graham, Adrian Askarieh from Prime Universe Films, Liefield, and Brooklyn Weaver. Read his statement below:
“I’m looking forward to seeing what they envision for bringing this story to life — a story we’re sure will stand out in the comic book world as a powerful, emotionally charged and visually distinctive film.”
Rob Liefeld is best known for his Marvel creations, particularly that of Deadpool, the powerhouse character that now belongs in the MCU, as well as X-Men characters like Cable, Domino, and Shatterstar. Liefeld famously left Marvel to help form Image Comics in 1992, which led to the creation of more characters and super-teams, including Youngblood, Supreme, Avengelyne, Bloodwulf and more. The R-rated Deadpool films starring Ryan Reynolds in the title role have been massively successful and were produced when 20th Century Fox owned the rights. Deadpool now belongs to Disney, and while a third film is being written, little else has been mentioned about the project from Marvel Studios.
Gyllenhaal seems to have a fever for comic-book films these days, as this is his third project going from page-to-screen. His appearance in Spider-Man: Far From Home was met with excitement, and the actor appears to be leaning into more of the spectacle entertainment of late, while still finding time to do smaller independent films at the same time. The Donnie Darko actor has grown quite a bit from his early days as an actor and feels primed to start making a bigger impact with high-profile projects like Prophet, and his diverse set of roles stacked on his upcoming projects list looks to keep him busy for the next few years, so settle in for the Gyllenhaal renaissance.
Source: THR