Following the massive success of Prime Video's The Boys, another of writer Garth Ennis' comic book creations is headed to the screen - and this one is even more twisted, depraved and downright diabolical.
THR reports that a Crossed movie is now in development at indie outfit Six Studios, and Ennis has already completed the script.
Crossed and its various spin-offs are generally considered to be among the most disturbing comics of all time, and with good reason. The story focuses on the survivors of a pandemic which turns its victims into homicidal maniacs. Marked with a red cross-shaped rash on their faces, these individuals retain their basic human intellects, but are unable to control their worst impulses, engaging in all manner of atrocities.
Ennis commented on the controversial depictions of depravity in Crossed during a 2010 interview with Bleeding Cool.
"The kinds of acts you see in the story, however, are not invented at all. A quick glance through the history books will reveal all manner of depraved activity; thousands upon thousands of dreadful things that we've been doing to each other since time began. Look at what went on in the torture chambers of the inquisition, or what the settlers and natives did to each other out on the great plains of North America, or what was going on in Eastern Europe in the mid-nineties. Hell, look at what people do to each other in prison, or what many women have to fear on their way home from work in urban areas.
The list is endless. I'm not even talking about concepts like genocide or religious or ethnic cleansing, nor do I want to play the numbers game with various bodycounts. I'm simply talking about what people do to one another when circumstances give them a free hand."
The original 10 issue miniseries - which will be the basis for the movie - was published from 2008-10, but has since spawned more than 200 issues from various other writers and artists, including the likes of Alan Moore.
The search is now on for a director for the project, which will reportedly be in the $2 million to $3 million budget range. Production is scheduled to get underway this fall.
Carl Choi of Six Studios will produce along with Ben Hung of Retro Entertainment and Ken Levin of Nightsky Productions.
Choi says the script is "an intimate, human story," and “the most faithful adaptation possible,” likening it to "Contagion meets The Walking Dead, with hints of Alex Garland’s Civil War, in that it’s a road movie across a ravaged United States."