On Being Approached By Studios Before The First Issue Was Even Released:
"The minute I announced 'Nemesis' on CBR last year and posted 'Civil War. Old Man Logan. Nemesis. Coming in March 2010' with no other information released at all, my agent got two calls from producers. One of them said, 'Tell Mark and Steve that we are massive fans of the books. It's our favorite book, and we'd love to get it in development as a movie.' I said to my agent, 'Nobody knows anything about this yet. These guys are lying!' It was the most insincere call I've ever gotten in my life. That's the kind of market that exists with the Hollywood guys now. They just all want to make comic book movies and they're looking for the next thing. Steve and I were just happy making the comic, and then Tony Scott came along with the best offer."
On Why He Wanted To Make Sure He Found The Right Director:
"In total, six different directors approached us for 'Nemesis,' and they were all kind of names. I had conversations with each of them to see if it felt like they were going to be good for the property. A lot of people see the comic as an outline for having the movie. I just see the film as fun. It's just garnish – a nice big advert for your book. But if you give it to the wrong guy, it can be a complete disaster. So I wanted to make sure it worked out."
On Turning Down A Director Because He Wanted To Get Rid Of Nemesis' Costume:
"One guy who was a big director said, 'I love this. Your book is great. Only one thing: I want to get rid of the costume and want to put him in regular clothes.' And that misses the entire point of what this guy is. This guy is like a reverse Batman or whatever...he absolutely needs to be in a superhero costume. My idea for it was like having Professor Moriarty or Hannibal Lecter who take something we trust which is a teacher or an adult and flips it to make it something we're scared of. I wanted to do the same thing with a superhero costume – a guy in white with a cowl and a cape. Let's make that into a nightmare figure. So to that director, I just said, 'No.' And my agent said, 'Are you crazy? This guy is huge. It's a lot of money.' And I said, 'I just don't want to do it unless it's right.'"
On Why He Thinks Tony Scott Is The Best Man For The Job:
"Tony and I had a one-hour chat about two weeks ago, and he was so enthusiastic about it. And Tony's like a massive deal to me. He's been making movies since I was a little kid, and I'm so familiar with his work. Even getting a call with Tony was massively exciting, but the way he went into such detail – how he was going to shoot specific little scenes and everything – I was just blown away. I thought, 'This is the guy.'"
On The Status Of The Comic Book Series And Hiring A Screenwriter:
"Steve just finished issue #3 this weekend and is starting on issue 4. I've got most of #4 done. I'll have some tweaks I'll want to put on it, but for the most part, that's done. So Tony's got a writer in mind who he's going to talk to this week to see if we can get him started on the screenplay. He's a massive, massive writer who I'd say is one of the top three living screenwriters. I just can't wait to see what he does with it. The idea of handing over one of my stories to this guy is magical, and we'll have to see what he does."