PREACHER Pilot Features Tom Cruise... Exploding
The pilot episode of AMC's small-screen adaptation of Garth Ennis' controversial comic series was screened for attendees at the SXSW festival yesterday and reactions were very positive overall, with one scene in particular being discussed more than any other...
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's Preacher pilot seemed to go down very well with most of the SXSW fans that caught it at the screening yesterday, and reactions have been spoiler free... for the most part.
The details of one particular scene have been spilled, however, and it sounds like the comic's trademark twisted humor is in place - even if the following doesn't actually occur in Garth Ennis' series.
Via EW:
"In the pilot, a mysterious force from outer space is possessing preachers around the world – then graphically exploding them from the inside out. Midway through the episode, there’s a news report that shows Cruise speaking in front of a Church of Scientology audience, and then likewise blowing up."
That sounds like something Rogen and co. would have had to fight to get included in the pilot, but apparently not. "It’s amazing, no one said anything! We kept waiting for somebody to say ‘no’ and now it’s too late," said Rogen - though he did also predict that he may have some explaining to do at some point. “I will run into [Cruise] one day though, that will happen, and I’ll have to explain that. I’ll have to come up with a way in my head to make it seem complimentary but I haven’t done it yet.”
Exploding preachers is definitely a departure from the source material, and we'll assume "outer space" refers more to divine presence that ET - but despite reports of quite a few liberties being taken with the story, fans of the comic all seem pretty happy with what they saw.
Preacher is set to première on AMC on May 22, and in the meantime you can get a dose of Rogen's brand of humor with the hilarious NSFW trailer for his upcoming R-rated animated comedy, Sausage Party, below.