IT’S BEEN A long, hard
journey for Todd McFarlane’s
Spawn movie. The comic’s
creator has been talking about his
vision for a new fi lm based on his
cult creation since 2007, a period
during which we had frankly lost
hope that it would ever get made.
But it’s hard to keep a hellspawn
down and, with a little help with
super-producer Jason Blum, it’s
gearing up for production.JAMIE FOXX
IS SPAWN
The Academy Award
winner had been
linked to the movie
for years but his
casting was
fi nally made
offi cial back
in May. This is
going to be a
muchdarker vision for the character
and McFarlane has stated that
Al Simmons isn’t going to be
a particularly verbose fella.
For newcomers, Simmons is a
CIA agent who’s murdered in a
double-cross and sent to Hell,
where he agrees to become a
hellspawn warrior if he can return
to Earth and his wife. When
he gets back, he’s horrifi ed to
discover he’s become... Spawn.JEREMY RENNER IS
TWITCH WILLIAMS
The Avengers star has
nabbed the second
lead role; a human
detective who
will team up with
Spawn to fi ght the
forces of darkness.
He’s described
as a fearless and
intuitive character
who’s the perfectTodd McFarlane’s dark Spawn reboot has found its two leads
WORDS JONATHAN HATFULL012 |match for Simmons’ tortured
supernatural warrior. Having
two high profi le names involved
is a big win for McFarlane and
the fi lm, especially given its
low budget. The writer-director
told Deadline that he didn’t
want someone who was “GQ
handsome”, rather someone who
could “pull off the grief of an
average human being” and that
Renner was at the top of his list.IT’S R-RATED
McFarlane has long stated that
this new version of Spawn is
much more like a horror than
a superhero movie. That’s one
of the reasons why the budget
is staying as low as it is ($
million seems to be the current
estimate), allowing the writer-
director to aggressively pursue
that sweet R-rating. The other
is that McFarlane is aware that
he is an unknown quantity as a
fi rst-time director, even with the
Blumhouse stamp of approval.
At the time of writing, the
fi lm is still looking for a studio/
distributor, but with a low price
tag, two big names and a
rabid fanbase, it surely
won’t be looking for
much longer...McFarlane’s dream
is happening.RE-SPAWN
CHILDREN
OF THE
NIGHTBREED
Syfy is taking us back
to Midian
WORDS JONATHAN HATFULL
The horror boom has been
great for Stephen King fans
but Clive Barker afi cionados
would be forgiven for feeling
a little hard done by. However,
that’s about to change, as Syfy
has picked up his classic novel
Cabal for a TV series reboot.
Barker previously adapted
Cabal into his cult classic
movie Nightbreed, which
starred Craig Scheffer as a
young man haunted by visions
of a community of monsters
living in secret before realising
that he must embrace his
true nature and become their
protector. Nightbreed was
subject to vicious cuts but its
amazing ideas transcended an
occasionally fl awed execution.
Barker is on board and will
be producing, while Jigsaw
writer Josh Stolberg is on
scripting duties. It’s still some
way away from production
and casting, but it’s exciting
to get some new Clive Barker
adaptation news. The author’s
felt underserved in recent years,
and the proposed Weaveworld
TV series seems to have
vanished. Here’s hoping the
residents of Midian make it to
our screens, and soon.W W W. S C I FI N OW.CO.U K© Gage Skidmore
© Gage Skidmore