Even though Spawn's silver screen debut was a big studio project, it didn't sit well with fans of the character. The Spawn HBO series, however, is still considered one of the best comic adaptations to date. Has the time finally come for Hollywood to take another crack at Spawn? Todd McFarlane thinks so, as long as it's on his terms. Newsarama has the details:
“I’ve had the idea in my head for over 10 years,” McFarlane said at the NYC Toy Fair last week,
“and I want to write, produce and direct it and just go, ‘ here it is.’ I’m 80% through the script, I did my due diligence, went around Hollywood. . . I listened to the pitch from all the big studios, but I just went, ‘nah, I need to make this small and tight and contained.’”
“And if we keep the budget small, they’ll allow me to do all of that. [But] if you blow up the budget...and I understand that. I wouldn’t hire me, either. But then I have to give it away.”
Several years ago, McFarlane pitched the idea for a second Spawn film, but he made little progress. No, with an indie-sized budget of only $20 million, McFarlane feels it's time to make his feature film directorial debut.
He wouldn't disclose which ones, but he mentioned three small studios are already considering green-lighting the project. Maintaining creative control is McFarlane's greatest concern, so a smaller studio is definitely a move in the right direction.
“At this point in my life, I’d rather keep it smaller and maybe get fewer people to come see it, but actually just sort of extract out of my brain what I’ve been living with for the past 10 years.”
“Another option is me just financing it myself. That way I can just ... I own all of it.”
Be sure to follow the link to read McFarlane's full interview with Newsarama from the 2010 Toy Fair.
UPDATE: MTV News spoke to McFarlane at last month's Toy Fair as well. Today, they released the video interview where the comic writer expands on his previous statement regarding the sequel/re-quel's budget:
"I keep telling [the studios] I can make it for $10 million," he said.
"I believe i can make this movie for $10 million."
He also reiterates that this film will be his project in it's entirety, and he's aware of the consequences:
"You just have to be smart visually and have a solid story behind it. So I'm going, 'Let's just do it the way I've been envisioning it for 10 years, and I'll take my lumps if it doesn't work.'"