Praise The Lord. A New Director For ‘Preacher’ But Who?

09-02-10 • Comics, Film Posted by Luke Gallagher

(Post by nerdbastards contributor Nick Bungay- Twitter @NickBungay)

For over a decade Vertigo comic book series ‘Preacher‘ has been through it’s own stations of the cross. Now it can add the station of a new director to it’s holy book. A while back it was announced director Sam Mendes would helm the project but he’s now off to pursue the next James Bond film. Thanks to a recent, all be it, small interview with Total film producer Neil Mortez gave up some more details on the man with “the word of God”:

“John (August, the screen writer) has done a really faithful adaptation but made it probably more accessible to a broader audience”…“The movie is definately R rated. And its an amazing central character”…“Another unnamed director has apparently signed on”

Another unnamed director, who the hell is it gonna be? Well, John August (The Nines) is showing interest in directing this badboy. After all he wrote this adaptation, along with a wishlist of directors he and Mortez would like to replace Mendes. Yet, the best and most logical director would be the made who helped reboot the A-team, Joe Carnahan:

“I’m kind of desperate to do another comic book adaptation…And the other thing I’m really keen on or interested in is ‘Preacher’ because I’m a big Garth Ennis fan and I love that series and that’s out there, and that might be something…I really love that. You gotta do the Allfather (D’Aronique) and all that crazy shit and I haven’t seen a script and I don’t know what it is, but yeah, we’ll see. Who knows?”

Hopefully they don’t have another case of ‘Ghostbuster 3′ on their hands with this one. Being part of a film chalk full of false starts since 1998 is like playing hopscotch with one leg. Having directors like Robert Rodriguez once attached to your project once had meaning. Now it means that we could never have this see the light of day and the next director filling like a clean-up batter.

The official plot synopsis from the graphic novel follows:

“Here’s a book guaranteed to offend a bunch of people, not only because of its profuse profanity and graphic violence, but because it’s the epitome of iconoclasm. Like a brutal accident, you can’t watch but you can’t turn away. The story follows an ex-preacher man, Jesse, who has become disgusted with God’s abandoning of His responsibilities. So Jesse starts off into the wilds of Texas with his hitman girlfriend and new best friend (a vampire) to find God so that he can give Him a piece of his mind. Despite its superficial perversity, this book contains what may be the most moral character in mainstream comics. A cult hit in the making.”

With 75 issues from 1995 to 2000 under Vertigo’s belt you might as well buy the entire series. In another 6 months this film will have another director and people will still be bitching, the church should get their confessional booths ready now.

source: slashfilm