Todd McFarlane’s brewing Spawn reboot has been described as many things.
A “low-budget” horror movie? Check. A “dark” and “nasty” second coming for Albert Francis “Al” Simmons? You betcha. A film where the lead character has a ton of dialogue? Well, not quite.
Amid talk of a spinoff TV series and the possibility of Oscar-winning talent climbing on board the long-gestating reboot, Todd McFarlane recently sat down with AZ Central to discuss his plans for the project and revealed something quite surprising. That being that for the entire movie, Spawn won’t say one single word.
“I like to explain that it’s my Jaws,” McFarlane said. “Spawn doesn’t say a word the entire movie, and it’s the same way with “Jaws.” It’s about the sheriff and the people, chasing the ghost. That’s it…The lead role isn’t Spawn, the lead role is a cop, like Sheriff Brody from “Jaws.” I think we can hook a fairly significant actor that we want. Unlike a superhero movie, we wouldn’t need an actor to put on prosthetic (makeup) or go to the gym. We just need him to act.”
Continuing on, he was quick to explain that this won’t be your typical superhero pic – which is something McFarlane has stressed before and is becoming more and more apparent the more we hear about the project.
“We just signed off on the script, and are going into budgeting. We’re also having our casting meeting…It will be dark and heavy, serious, R-rated. It won’t be a superhero movie. I don’t think most people would categorize it as that. It will be a supernatural thriller, like a lot of good creep movies. The only thing in the movie that’s fantastic is Spawn, and anything else is otherwise normal.”
Having found a home at Blumhouse Productions and seemingly held talks with Oscar-winning talent, now all that’s left is for Spawn to enter production in earnest. Granted, it’s still early days for McFarlane’s adaptation, but everything we’ve learned so far stinks of potential and we can’t wait to see what the writer is cooking up.