“Spawn” creator Todd McFarlane has been trying to get a new film adaptation of his creation off the ground for years. The film would follow in the wake of the poorly received live-action 1997 film and the acclaimed HBO adult animated series from the late 1990s.
The Spawn character has remained a popular one and so McFarlane has been persistent in his attempts to do a new one on a low budget which would allow him to retain control. In fact, one of the key reasons he’s allowing the adaptation is because he won’t do it unless he writes and directs it.
In a recent interview with Forbes, McFarlane spoke about the current status of the film and tried to explain why he’s having such a hard time getting it off the ground. Turns out he thinks he is the project’s biggest anchor weighing down its chances:
“There’s a couple things. I wrote the first draft of the screenplay. If I’d done my job and written a screenplay that mattered, that would have sold it. I’m culpable on that end to start with. Then there’s the fear and risk on the financing side with a first time writer, first time director. That’s why I went to get Jason Blum to produce, and attached Jamie [Foxx] and Jeremy [Renner] – to add the quality to it.
My goal is to continue to add those kind of quality people at all levels. The more I can add those people, the less I become relevant as a risk. Hopefully, the studios will see that I am planning accordingly and going about this in a businesslike way to reduce that back-end risk, and at some point, we’ll move forward.”
With the project setup at Blumhouse with Jamie Foxx attached as Spawn and Jeremy Renner previously rumored for Detective Maximilian ‘Twitch’ Williams. About the reports, McFarlane says:
“Those reports were not quite accurate. There is someone – a major talent behind the camera – we had our eyes on and it didn’t work out. It happens. But we didn’t lose anyone, because we never had them. So we’re on the trail of someone else now. It would be a giant headline if we can get the person we’re looking at. That said, we’re not idle. Jamie [Foxx] is maybe even more enthusiastic about doing this than I am. Even if it’s only two of us, it will be Jamie and myself!.”
He was also asked about the possibility of a streaming service financing the project, or turning it into a potential series. He says:
“We’ve had those conversations. People ask why not a TV show instead of a movie? Part of it is I’ve never directed a feature film. I had an itch to scratch. This might be my only chance. I’ve held on to the rights to attach myself to it. If it works out, we can always bring it over to television.”
For now there’s no clear idea when we’ll see some new “Spawn”.
