Spawn (Movie Finds New Writers with ‘Joker,’ ‘Captain America 4’ Scribes)

Todd McFarlane, creator of the comic-book character Spawn, is partnering via his McFarlane Films banner with Jason Blum’s Blumhouse to bring the antihero back to the big screen. While it’s not news there’s going to be a Spawn movie (McFarlane has been counting down this Comic-Con announcement on his social channels), the fact that Blumhouse is behind it is.

The first Spawn movie starring Michael Jai White was released by New Line in 1997 and grossed $87.8M at the worldwide box office off a $40 million production cost. It opened to $19.7M domestically, ranking second during the first weekend of August; it ended its domestic run at $54.9M.

Published by Image Comics, Spawn follows elite CIA mercenary Al Simmons, who after being killed by his partner is sent to hell because he was responsible for the death of several innocent people. Simmons makes a deal for his soul with an evil being known as Malebolgia so he could see his wife again. But Simmons is turned into a demonic creature and sent back to Earth.

McFarlane will pen the first draft of the screenplay and is set to make his directorial debut. He is known for reinventing the look of Spider-Man as well as co-creating the Venom character for Marvel Comics.

“Having worked with many visionary directors, I think Todd’s unique artistic talents will only add to his role as director of this film,” Blum said in a statement.

Blumhouse is having a fantastic 2017 with its two titles Split and Get Out together amassing $529M in global ticket sales off combined budgets of $13.5M.

Comic-Con 2017 is underway, and among the many pieces of breaking news that have come our way, one of the more intriguing is the fact that Spawn comics creator Todd McFarlane finally has movement on his Spawn reboot. McFarlane revealed yesterday that he’s signed a deal with Blumhouse Productions—the studio behind Get Out and Split—to develop with an eye to direct a new Spawn reboot. After the announcement, McFarlane sat down with Collider’s own Steve Weintraub to discuss his plans for the new movie, the Blumhouse partnership, his frustrations with the 90s adaptation, and more.

In the video above you can watch our full conversation with McFarlane. He promises that this new adaptation will be dark, R-rated, and supernatural, and reveals that the film will carry a Blumhouse budget of $10 million to $12 million, with plenty of practical effects used to bring the story to the screen. McFarlane also stresses that Spawn is meant to be the only supernatural thing about this movie:

“It’s not gonna be a typical superhero comic book [movie]. It’s gonna be a dark, moody, real world, and there’s only one thing in this entire movie that’s not normal, and it’s this thing that moves, this shadow that moves, this thing that you and I know intellectually as Spawn.”

The comics creator goes on to take issue with the Marvel Studios adaptation Iron Man, noting that he wants Spawn to be much more in the vein of Jaws, The Exorcist, and The Grudge in that the entire world is grounded and real, and only one single element is supernatural. McFarlane also talks a bit about casting and reveals that Twitch will be one of the biggest characters in the movie.

UltimateMarvel wrote:R Rated? Nice! Never seen the first Spawn movie so this is a good thing.

Rusty Cunt wrote: Michael Jai White was Spawn/Simmons - that's all that needs to be said.

Spoiler:

Tyger wrote:I'm all for an R rated Spawn, but not one where you barely see the title character. The cape alone demands to be seen. Spawn is nothing without the glorious cape.

WyldeMan wrote:Casting is finally underway and they've just offered the role of Spawn to Jamie Foxx.

Rusty wrote:That was an unexpected name, but pretty damn good if they can get him.

joey con carne wrote:So are they really going to make a film where Spawn isn't seen much?

I know I'm late to this discussion but seeing the previous comments reminded me of that idea.

EXCLUSIVE: Jamie Foxx is set to star in Spawn, the Blumhouse film that marks the directorial debut of Todd McFarlane from his scripted adaptation of his comic book creation. Foxx will play the character who started out in the comics as Al Newman, a member of a CIA black ops team who is betrayed twice. After being set up by his cohorts to be murdered with his corpse set aflame, Newman is double crossed in Hell. He is convinced to become a Hellspawn warrior in exchange for being able to be reunited with his wife. But Spawn finds himself stuck in a demonic creature shell, and that his wife moved on and married his best friend. So this is one pissed off antihero who attends to dispatching the scum of the city in good and evil battles that encompass earth, heaven and hell.

The comic was huge in the 1990s and was previously turned into an animated film and a live action pic with Michael Jai White playing the character. McFarlane has long gotten overtures on a new live action film that could launch a franchise, but he always had creative issues that led him to his own gritty low-budget version at Blumhouse, with McFarlane making his directorial debut. He expects the budget to be between $10M-$12M for a dark R-rated realization of his vision that will stack up favorably from both a creative and a financial standpoint.

He doesn’t intend to tell Spawn‘s origin story and he expects his anti-hero to be a man of few words.

“The scariest movies, from Jaws to John Carpenter’s The Thing, or The Grudge and The Ring, the boogeyman doesn’t talk,” McFarlane told Deadline, acknowledging that he’s gotten odd stares from studio suits in the past on this approach. “It confuses people because of the comic book industry, and because they all default into their Captain America mindset and I keep saying, no, get into John Carpenter’s mindset or Hitchcock. This is not a man in a rubber suit, it’s not a hero that’s going to come and save the damsel. It’s none of that. At the end of the movie, I’m hoping that the audience will say either, is this a ghost that turns into a man, or is it a man that turns into a ghost? I’ve got a trilogy in mind here, and I’m not inclined in this first movie to do an origin story. I’m mentally exhausted from origin stories. Luckily, there’s a movie that just came out that helps my cause. In A Quiet Place, the first thing on screen is a card in black and white letters that says Day 89. It doesn’t care about what happened in those first 88 days. There are a couple headlines, but then we are on day 450. That movie doesn’t worry about explaining and giving all the answers. What it said in that case was, if you can hang on for a story of survival of this family, this movie will make complete sense for you.”

McFarlane wants to challenge Spawn aficionados and newcomers in the same fashion. “If you want to see something creepy and powerful where you go, just what the hell was that? I’m not going to explain how Spawn does what he does; he is just going to do it. We’ll eventually do some of the background if we make a trilogy, but that’s not this first movie. The first movie is just saying, do you believe? And if you believe than that’s good because I’m hoping to take you for a long ride with this franchise.”

McFarlane expects the envelope-pushing take might turn his biggest fans into his most ferocious critics. If there’s a touchstone film to his approach, it’s Jacob’s Ladder, a film that left audiences questioning whether or not the action on the screen was real or a nightmare.

If Spawn doesn’t have much to say, then why Foxx, the Oscar-winner who delivered so many memorable lines in everything from Django Unchained to Collateral and Ray?
Courtesy Todd McFarlane

“There are five or six moments where I’m going to need things from my actors, and a couple of them have to come from Jamie, and I’ve seen him deliver them onscreen,” McFarlane said. “He gets into a zone, with body language and a look that basically will say way more than anything i could type on a piece of paper, and this movie is going to need those moments. And in the odd moment where he has to deliver a line that’s short, curt and has impact, he can do it in a way that makes you go, ‘whoa, I don’t want to mess with that guy. What a badass.'”

McFarlane adds that Foxx was the actor in his mind when he wrote the script.

“Jamie came to my office five years ago, and he had an idea about Spawn and we talked about it,” McFarlane said. “I never forgot him, and when I was writing this script, you sort of plug people in, and he was my visual guy and I never let go of him. When I got done and my agents and everybody was talking about what actor, I said, I’m going to Jamie first and until he says no I don’t want to think about anyone else because I’ve never had anyone else in my head. Luckily, he hadn’t forgotten either. I said, ‘hey, I’m back to talk about Spawn again, and he was like, let’s do it.'”

Blumhouse chief Jason Blum sparked to the pairing.

“We are thrilled Jamie Foxx will be playing the title role in our movie adaptation of Spawn,” he said in a statement. “He is an incredible actor and a huge fan of the Spawn Universe that Todd McFarlane created. With the depth of talent Jamie can commit to the role and Todd at the helm bringing the world of Spawn to life, we could not be more excited for this film.”

Foxx sparked to the idea that his five year wait to play the character will be worth it.

Said Foxx: “A few years back I flew out to Arizona to meet the man behind one of the most incredible comic book characters in the universe… Todd McFarlane. He was taken aback when I told him with the enthusiasm of a young child that more than anything I wanted to put my name in the hat to embody his beloved character Spawn…. I told him no one would work harder than me if given the opportunity… well… the opportunity is here!! I’m humbled and ready to transform… and to top things off the young Jason Blum is lending his brilliance to the project! Time to be great!!!! #Spawn.”

WyldeMan wrote:Jamie will make a great Al and I can't wait to see what they do with Spawn. I can't believe they're kicking off a Spawn franchise for $12 million with Jamie Foxx.....

However, I don't recall ever hearing about his name being Al Newman, he's always been Al Simmons in every iteration I've seen.

I've been watching McFarlane's animated Spawn series from the 90s on Hulu over the last few nights and been wondering if they were gonna announce Jamie's casting for the movie anytime soon.

I love the HBO series, it was streets ahead of any other animated shows of its time and was completely serialized, well written, violent as hell and captivating. I've been watching a few episodes each night and keep hoping that if they can make the new movie even half as enjoyable as the twenty year old animated series then I'll be a happy Spawn fan.

Now with Jamie locked in, I'm excited to see who they cast as Jason Wynn and The Clown. I also hope we get Sam and Twitch!

I wonder if Malebolgia, Cogliostro, Chapel, Mammon and Satan will be saved for the sequels, so much potential!!

Tyger wrote:I hope I’m proven wrong, but I’m calling it now this is gonna be terrible.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I know nothing about this character but have heard of him. I hope it turns out great and something that Foxx is recognized for. I'm assuming this is gonna go for a hard R?

Rusty wrote:Great to see Foxx sign up. I had trouble envisioning who they could cast, but when his name came up a while back, I haven't been able to picture anyone else. Great signing.

McFarlane had legal issues years back about the name Al Simmons. He used the name of an employee (with permission), but the guy later wrote a book claiming that he was the "inspiration" for the character, as apposed to just a name. Not sure what happened, but transferring the name Al Simmons to a new platform will require permission (think of the plot for Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back) - no way McFarlane pays the dude, so he'll just switch the name up.

... and speaking of Kevin Smith, I would love Sam & Twitch to pop up. Kevin Smith is supposedly writing and directing the Sam & Twitch TV show for BBC America. The news came up last year, and I'm sure it's still going ahead, so maybe they'll pop up in the movie and use that to help promote the TV show to follow it up.

Rusty wrote:

Tyger wrote:I hope I’m proven wrong, but I’m calling it now this is gonna be terrible.

I actually agree with you. I'm really wanting it, but I will not be surprised if it completely sucked.

Hard story/character to do live.

WyldeMan wrote:

Spawn has been Al Simmons and only Al Simmons to me for over 20 years and now I'm just supposed to accept that he'll be called Newman???? FUCK THAT NOISE!!!!!!! I do not approve of this change, I need him to be Al Simmons, not named after a character on Seinfeld!!!! However, right after posting the Foxx casting announcement that claimed he'd be playing Al Newman, I saw an article on Deadline that said he'd be Al Francis.

I read yesterday that the actual male lead of this movie will be Twitch since Spawn will be kept to the shadows and a man of few words. I wonder who they'll go after, I always imagined someone like a Steve Buscemi or John Hawkes but with such a small budget and Foxx attached, I kind of expect everybody else to be a nobody.

It seems like Kevin Smith loves to talk about projects that will never happen. I remember when Clerks 3 and Mallrats the tv series were done deals and then neither happened and probably won't. I don't think they'd allow a Twitch series to move forward with the return of the film version.

Rusty wrote:The problem with the Kevin Smith projects is he never actually owned the rights to continue them. He can drum up all the social media interest he wants with Clerks and Mallrats (which is exactly what he was trying to do), but unless the people that own the rights give it the green-light, or license it to someone willing to pay for it, nothing's going to happen. That's why the Jay & Silent Bob franchise is the only property he has that he's going to continue with .... because it's the only licensed property from his Jersey Trilogy that he actually owns.

Don't discount the Sam & Twitch TV series. Not saying Kevin continues with it, but with Jamie Foxx signing on as Spawn, I guarantee you McFarlane is looking for tie-ins.

Tyger wrote:I think it’s more the nature of the industry these days that puts Kev in situations that make him look bad.

It’s like he doesn’t own shit, but has to appeal to those who do to let him play with his own toys basically. They need him to prove interest so he does social media and gets actors involved/committed just to get told no and look bad.

It’s like when WB didn’t see any interest in Veronica Mars so the Kickstarter proved that there was.

WyldeMan wrote:Rust, I've been thinking about who could play Twitch and earlier I'd suggested Buscemi or Hawkes but what do you think about Jackie Earl Haley? Though I recall McFarlane saying he wrote Twitch with Dicaprio in mind. I also think Sam Rockwell would be another great option.

I'd say Rockwell and Haley are my top two choices, though I have absolutely no idea who McFarlane is really in talks with but I hope we start getting names soon.

Rusty wrote:I have been thinking the same thing.

Who they get really depends on whether they're still going ahead with the TV show or not. If they are, then there's a lot of actors that won't want to do a TV series.

DiCaprio can get fucked. He's no Twitch.

Haley would be fucking perfect. Skinny redhead with glasses.

I like Hawkes. Can never go wrong with him. Rockwell is good, but might not be slender enough. Hawkes and Haley have the body type.

What about Sam? Needs to be a big guy. I Was thinking someone like John Goodman, as far as stature goes (plus he's now got free time).

WyldeMan wrote:
Dicaprio became a much more likely choice after his Django co-star became the other lead but as you said, I don't see him as Twitch either.

McFarlane has recently said that Twitch and Sam have not yet met each other at the starting point of the first movie so it sounds like Sam will be held until at least the sequel. My best guess is that they're going to pair Twitch up with another partner who will be killed and then replaced by Sam in the sequel.

I could see someone like Oliver Platt or Alec Baldwin for Sam but I need to do some more thinking on that one and there are so many other amazing Spawn characters that might be in the first movie.

Rusty wrote:Shit. Didn't know about the pre-Sam thing. It will be Twitch only. Looks like a Trilogy is planned.

There will be no Clown or Violator in the first movie.

For Sam, Platt or Baldwin I could buy.  Michael Madsen comes to mind, and John C Reilly is a left field choice.

Jeremy Renner has been set to star alongside Jamie Foxx in Spawn, the Blumhouse film that marks the directorial debut of Todd McFarlane from his scripted adaptation of his comic book creation. In late May, Foxx was set to play the title character, who started out in the comics as Al Simmons, a member of a CIA black ops team who is twice betrayed: after being set up by his cohorts to be murdered with his corpse set aflame, Simmons is then double crossed in Hell. He is convinced to become a Hellspawn warrior in exchange for being able to be reunited with his wife, only to find himself stuck in his demonic creature shell, and that his wife moved on and married his best friend. Spawn turns his rage on street scum and revenge. He realized long ago that he can’t battle the constant evil permeating the globe alone, and must enlist the aid of humans to help him fight the war. Detective ‘Twitch’ Williams has the intelligence and intuition that Spawn needs most. This unconventional detective is near fearless and compliments Spawn’s demonic powers, and it is that combination that will help Spawn win his war.


“As a first time director, I wanted to surround myself with the most talent and the most skilled people I can on all fronts,” McFarlane told Deadline. “I was lucky enough to land Jason Blum and then Jamie Foxx, and I knew the person on screen the most is this police officer, Twitch Williams. We needed as strong a person as possible because he will be the face of the film. I took my naïve Hollywood approach again, and said let’s start at the top and work down. Jeremy was at the top. I’m a huge fan of his. The character doesn’t need to be a bodybuilder or GQ handsome. I was looking for somebody who’s a person you’ve met before; I needed someone who can pull off the grief of an average human being. I’ve seen Jeremy do that in more than a few of his movies. He was at the top of my list, just like Jamie.”

While Renner’s biggest grossing films are those he has made at Marvel as Hawkeye, McFarlane doesn’t go see those movies. “Spawn is King Arthur and Twitch is Sir Lancelot, and this isn’t about physicality, or jumping over buildings,” he said. “This is more a brawn and brain combination, and the first film I think of with him is The Hurt Locker, the army grunt doing the job, and that spilled out into all these roles leading up to Wind River. There was a sense of melancholy to that character that is important and that was a movie also made by a first time director, but one who wrote the thing and so wasn’t nervous about trying to get what you want. Jeremy had the experience of working with the first timer and saw that if you put a good crew together, the whole is way better than the parts and you don’t have to worry.”

Said Jason Blum: “Jeremy is the ideal choice for Twitch Williams. He radiates honesty, intelligence and a hard-working, everyman charisma, the same qualities that make Twitch such a compelling character.”

McFarlane said the next step will be to lock a distributor to set the financing on a film that will likely carry a $10 million-$12 million budget, an R rating, and franchise potential.

“Jason and I feel we have a strong package here,” he said. “Academy Award nominated and Academy Award nominated actor. As a first time director, I guess I’m the weak link, but I think my brand is strong. Hopefully when we go to studios, fairly soon, we’ll get the interest of more than one and we can pick what place will do this project justice, marketing and distributing it. We’re going to go for as close to a green light as we can get, since the development process has already been done. We’re looking for someone to say, ‘yeah cool, we’ll take it.’ It’s a reasonable budget, we’re not asking anyone to stretch. The goal here is a quality project at reasonable price.”

Rusty wrote:I never would have imagined Renner. Still a good choice though. I've watched Wind River a dozen times. Dude is good.

Omega Underground has learned that The Walking Dead’s Greg Nicotero is expected to handle the film’s special effects makeup. He also worked on the original film from 1997.

Greg’s other credits include The Mist, Preacher, Sin City, Evil Dead 2, Predators, Planet Terror, and Inglourious Basterds.

Filming is expected to begin soon in New York City and possibly in a few other locations.

Blumhouse has yet to give the film a release date but could be ready for release sometime next year.

Rusty wrote:That's a good get.

UltimateMarvel wrote:So.......who is Twitch Williams? His partner?

UltimateMarvel wrote:I see. Well, sounds like a great pairing with Renner. Looking forward to see what he'll look like.

WyldeMan wrote:
I keep wondering if Twitch will be pursing Spawn the first film thinking he's the villain or if we should be expecting Wynn sometime soon.

WyldeMan wrote:

UltimateMarvel wrote:I see. Well, sounds like a great pairing with Renner. Looking forward to see what he'll look like.

Well in the comics, Twitch is a nerd with a mustache, glasses and Einstein's hair. But I imagine Renner will look like Renner.

Rusty wrote:I don't think Wynn will play a role in the first one. He might pop up toward the end. It's not an origin story, so there'll be no Al Simmons/CIA stuff. I'm going to guess it'll be Twitch investigating all the weird sightings and happenings in the alleys, then trying to figure out who/what it is. Maybe Wynn's or the USSG will pop up in name only through Twitch's investigation, but that will be it.

Now I've said that, maybe Spawn is targeting Wynn/USSG, and no-one knows why. Twitch picks up on it and that begins his investigation

I really have no idea at this point.

On the acting front, you’ve signed on to star in Spawn, playing the the titular character in the upcoming comic book reboot film. What drew you to it, and how did you get connected with Todd McFarlane? 
Six years ago, I flew to Phoenix to find this man and throw my hat in the ring. I had done all my research on Spawn. I know everything about the character and what he had done. He was taken aback. I said, “Whatever you decide to do, I wanna be first up.” And what I tried to do is stay artistically in shape. Of course, there’s the aesthetic sense of what Spawn is, but in the cerebral sense, in [McFarlane's] script, Twitch [to be played by Jeremy Renner] is going through something. He prays to God, nothing happens. Should he pray to the devil? Spawn interjects himself into Twitch’s life and Twitch says, “Who are you?” I said that I want to stay artistically in shape so I can deliver the line or the feeling: “I’m both. I’m good and I’m evil. I was blessed by God, but I was raised by the devil.” When I explained that to him, those years back, luckily it stayed with him. Even when he was still met with the task of finding who it was, I said, “I challenge anyone out there not to make it competitive. I challenge anyone who was more ready. More ready to give everything. Because you can’t challenge someone as far as who’s the better actor. Because there’s always better actors, better actresses." It’s what you bring. Things worked out.

When does filming start?
We’re not sure of the start date, but we’ve already started crafting things. Clay Fontenot, who was the stunt guy in the Iron Man suit, he’s crafting Spawn now. That's the exciting part. When you see it, he’s gonna have his own identity.

We have seen in Blumhouse's recent horror films overarching social and political themes added to the narrative of the stories. Is this something we'll see in Spawn? 
That would be left up to Todd, as far as what he wants it to look like. I’m a soldier in this. Whatever battle we go into, I’m locked and loaded.