This year, I had the honor to interview legendary comic creator and artist Mike Grell for a research paper (just a month or so after meeting him at Emerald City Comic-Con; he was a great interviewee, I'll tell you). Around that same time, I read probably one of his best-known works outside the larger publishers during the 1980's: his creator-owned series published through First Comics, the adventure/action series "Jon Sable, Freelance".
"Jon Sable Freelance was an American comic book, one of the first series created for the fledging publisher First Comics in 1983. It was written and drawn by Mike Grell and was a fully creator-owned title, as were all of First Comics' titles.
The character was heavily influenced by Ian Fleming's James Bond novels as well as drawing on pulp fiction crime stories. Also, many of the stories of Sable's hunting exploits in Africa were influenced by Peter Hathaway Capstick's novels. At a convention in the late 1980s, Grell stated that his idea for Sable was "something like a cross between James Bond and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer."
Jon Sable Freelance lasted 56 issues from 1983 to 1988 before being cancelled. While Grell wrote and did all the covers, he stopped drawing the stories after #44. Late in this run Grell announced in the comic's own text pages that Tony De Zuniga would soon join him as the new artist. Just what happened to these plans is unclear, but soon the series was suspended, and after a few months, Marv Wolfman was writing and Bill Jaaska was drawing a new series called Sable, with Grell having no part. This lasted 27 issues before cancellation. The feature also spawned a short lived ABC 1987 TV series, called Sable." (Which was the big break for a young Rene Russo.)
But here, I ask the hypothetical question--instead of the Sable TV series,
Indeed--how would an adaptation of the comic look and feel if it came out a year earlier? Here's how I envision it, in the fancast format originated by CBM user RobertGarlen.
Director: Directors are responsible for overseeing creative aspects of a film under the overall control of the film producer. They often develop the vision for a film and carry out the vision, deciding how the film should look, in other words they make their vision come to life. They are responsible for turning the script into a sequence of shots. They also direct what tone it should have and what an audience should gain from the cinematic experience. Film directors are responsible for deciding camera angles, lens effects and lighting with the help of the cinematographer and set design with the production designer. They will often take part in hiring the cast and key crew members. They coordinate the actors' moves, or blocking and also may be involved in the writing, financing and editing of a film.
John McTiernan [Notable works: Predator, Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October]: While not in such great legal shape these days (if you know what I mean and if court records indicate anything), back in the 80's McTiernan directed some of the best-known and iconic sci-fi and action films ever made, and he'd be ideal for bringing an action-thriller like John Sable to the big screen had it been done.
Screenwriters: Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, developing the narrative, writing the screenplay, and delivering it, in the required format, to Development Executives. Screenwriters therefore have great influence over the creative direction and emotional impact of the screenplay and, arguably, of the finished film. They either pitch original ideas to Producers in the hope that they will be optioned or sold, or screenwriters are commissioned by a producer to create a screenplay from a concept, true story, existing screen work or literary work, such as a novel, poem, play, comic book or short story.
Sam Hamm [Notable works: Never Cry Wolf, Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992)] and Mike Grell [Notable comic book works: Warlord, Jon Sable Freelance, Starslayer, Green Arrow, Shaman's Tears]: With the case of Hamm, the Batman movies proved he could do well in telling urban action and drama stories, and with the case of Never Cry Wolf, I figure doing a story partially set in the African landscape would me not so hard to do, since in that movie he worked with a similar untamed environment--the tundra. With the case of Grell, it's obvious: Jon Sable is his baby, and couple with the fact that he's been working on a screenplay for some time puts the odds in my favor.
Composer: A film score (also sometimes called background music or incidental music) is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score forms part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects, and comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental or choral pieces called cues which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scene in question. Scores are written by one or more composers, under the guidance of the film's director and/or producer, and are then usually performed by an ensemble of musicians – most often comprising an orchestra or band, instrumental soloists, and choir or vocalists – and recorded by a sound engineer.
Lalo Schifrin [Notable works: Bullitt, the original Mission: Impossible show, the Dirty Harry films, Enter the Dragon]: If those credits don't convince you that Schifrin would be perfect to score a movie like this, I don't know what will. I could see him coming up with easy transitions from music befitting the African jungle to that befitting the concrete jungle.
Jon Sable: Sable was a bounty hunter and mercenary who previously had been an athlete in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. After witnessing the terrorist outrages at those games, he married a fellow athlete and they relocated to Rhodesia, where Sable became an organiser of safaris for tourists, and later a game warden. It was during this time his family was murdered by poachers. After avenging his slain family, Sable returned to the USA and became a free-lance mercenary.
He also has a double identity as a successful children's book writer under the name of "B.B. Flemm". Unlike many such characters, his literary agent is aware of his other identity's activities, but is most persuasive in enforcing his writing contract obligations as well.
Richard Gere [Age: 37, Notable works: American Gigolo, An Officer and a Gentleman]: Gere was having an unfortunate streak of box office bombs since '82, but with a movie like this, I think he could salvage his reputation (despite still being a star at the time of those clunkers). Think of his performance in the 1986 film "No Mercy". Also, for some odd reason, Sable (as drawn by Grell) looks an awful lot like Gere.
Eden Kendall: Kendall is Sable's literary agent, in charge of making all the deals that have to do with his alter-ego. She knows of his activities as a freelance operator, and helped him come up with the B.B. Flemm persona for his more 'public' appearances. She got him into that role after convincing him that using the characters from the 'leprechauns in Central Park' stories he used to tell his kids would make him rich in the children's book market.
Kelly McGillis [Age: 27, Notable works: Witness, Top Gun, The Accused]: This casting is one I ran into a bit of trouble over. I went through three other actresses, including Brooke Shields (too young), Claudia Wells (same), and Michelle Pfieffer (didn't have the right face), but eventually I settled with McGillis since A) She was starring in one of the biggest movies that came out on my proposed release date (Top Gun), and B) she's a Golden Globe-nominated actress (thanks to being nominated the previous year for her role in Witness). Just dye her hair brown, and presto, instant Eden. And I felt the role of Eden could bring a bit of variety to her acting career, just before being disgusted two years later after making Cat Chaser with Peter Weller.
Myke Blackmon: The illustrator for the "Leprechauns in Central Park" books who Sable (as Flemm) meets at the insistence of Eden. She follows him after being upset at his quick departure from Eden's office (to take on a case), and when she winds up at Sable's apartment, where she learns of his charade. Eden then shows her the manuscript for Sable's original novel, "A Storm Over Eden", and from reading it she learns about why Sable does what he does and all the tragedy that befell him.
Deborah Foreman [Age: 24, Notable works: Valley Girl, Real Genius]: I felt that this would be an interesting way for Foreman to break out of the image that Valley Girl gave her, and get people to take her acting seriously. This is evident especially in the moments where Myke finds herself shocked by Sable's motivations after reading "A Storm Over Eden".
Captain Josh Winters: A police captain who disapproves of Sable's activities, ever since he brought in an escaped child-killer a few years earlier. He does reluctantly follow Sable's lead on a few occasions (such as when Winters is made head of security when President Reagan is to speak at a U.N. conference while Sable tries to ferret out a rogue sniper).
Billy Dee Williams [Age: 49, Notable works: two Star Wars films, the 1989 Batman, Chiefs (a TV miniseries)]: Originally I was going to go with Danny Glover, making him just a year from starring in Lethal Weapon, but then I thought that Williams would be fine in the role, and shake off the Star Wars connection a bit. Chiefs showed his chops at playing law enforcement-types, so playing Captain Winters wouldn't be much of a stretch.
Elise Sable (nee McKenna): A former gymnast from South Africa who competed in the '72 Munich Games, she fell in love with fellow athlete Jon Sable, and after the massacre that took place at the games, the two of them settled in Rhodesia, where they married, and she gave birth to their son Mark and daughter Heather. They also start a safari business together, until Jon becomes a game warden to bring more financial stability for the family. She and the kids were later killed by a group of poachers seeking revenge on Sable for disrupting their activities, though Elise managed to take out one of them. Her death and those of the kids still haunts Sable to this day.
Olivia Newton-John [Age: 38, Notable works: Grease, Xanadu, Two of a Kind]: She was the first one to come to mind when I thought of who would play Elise, and I stand by my choice.
Hal Brooks: Hal is the game warden who recruits Sable to aid him in repelling poachers after Sable discovers an elephant freshly-killed and stripped of its tusks. After Sable's family is killed, he recruits Jon's old partner from the safari days to track him down before he gets killed in pursuit of revenge. He later gives Sable--who returns to Zimbabwe to take down the poacher who ordered his family's execution--information regarding the location of the poacher.
Eric Idle [Age: 43, Notable works: Monty Python]: While known for the more comedic side of his career, I'm sure he could do something more somber and serious. He'd also make a great mentor figure to Gere's Sable.
Milo Jackson: Sable's former commander during his days as a mercenary in war-ravaged Rhodesia. Years after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, Jackson became an assassin-for-hire, and is the first villain that Sable fights in the comic's first issue. He is hired to assassinate President Reagan while he's giving a speech at the U.N.
Dennis Hopper [Age: 50, Notable works: Apocalypse Now, Rumble Fish, The Osterman Weekend, Blue Velvet]: Hopper's manic photojournalist from Apocalypse Now and his character in Speed (despite being a decade ahead of my proposed film release date) were what inspired me to cast him as Jackson. He seemed to really nail that kind of character.
Reindhardt Pyke: A big-time poacher in South Africa who ordered the execution of Sable and his family after his efforts as a game warden disrupted a third of his cartel's activities. Sable eventually fought Pyke himself (who had taken the lion tooth necklace Sable had given Elise as a gift), cutting off his right pinkie finger in the process and sending him over a cliff into the river below. Years later, Sable learns of Pyke still being alive and he confronts him, where he learns that Pyke (under a false identity) was about to become Zimbabwe's head of national parks.
Clive Revill [Age: 56, Notable works: The Assassination Bureau, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (as the voice of Emperor Palpatine), Mack the Knife]: Revill's a veteran actor with a lot on his filmography, but him playing the big bad of this movie is something that I thought would give him a good prominent role.
And just because it's fitting enough, Rich Little providing the voice of Ronald Reagan.
That is a wrap, and I hope there are a lot of Jon Sable fans here. I encourage you to read the latest Sable adventure, "Ashes of Eden", over on this website: http://www.comicmix.com/comic/jon-sable-freelance-ashes-of-eden/
For taking the time to see this, ladies and gentlement--DAVE EDMUNDS: