The Preacher Movie - Should We Exercise A Little Optimism?

The Preacher Movie - Should We Exercise A Little Optimism?

Will optimism go a long way in regards to D.J. Caruso's adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher or should we just wait for a reboot?

Editorial Opinion
By selinakyle - Mar 01, 2011 01:03 PM EST
Filed Under: Preacher

My comic book collection is heavily influenced by crime stories and the occult. 100 Bullets, Powers, Hellblazer, and Preacher. Preacher is probably one of the strangest, offensive and fascinating books i have ever read and im sure some of you will agree with me. So when it was announced that D.J. Caruso would be directing the big screen adaptation, i wanted to do this




Any person experiencing some sort of excitement about this news has probably never read the book.


So what is Preacher about?

Preacher tells the story of Jesse Custer, a down-and-out preacher in the small Texas town of Annville. Custer was accidentally possessed by the supernatural creature named Genesis in an incident which killed his entire congregation and flattened his church.
Genesis, the product of the unauthorized, unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon, is an infant with no sense of individual will. However, as it is composed of both pure goodness and pure evil, it might have enough power to rival that of God Himself. In other words, Jesse Custer, bonded to Genesis, may have become the most powerful being in the whole of living existence.
Custer, driven by a strong sense of right and wrong, goes on a journey across the United States attempting to (literally) find God, who abandoned Heaven the moment Genesis was born. He also begins to discover the truth about his new powers. They allow him, when he wills it, to command the obedience of those who hear and comprehend his words. He is joined by his old girlfriend Tulip O'Hare, as well as a hard-drinking Irish vampire named Cassidy
source
With the exception of the dark and twisted mind of Garth Ennis, what makes preacher such a complex and interesting read is the wealth of characters it contains. They are eccentric; hilarious; often depraved and perverted; and morally bankrupt. Every single one of them contributes essentially to the story. This brings me to my issue with this movie announcement - How will this translate to the big screen? I would honestly love to be optimistic about the idea of this movie but its quite impossible to shake this nagging feeling of dread especially if you consider the following factors.

D. J. Caruso and Shia Lebouf

Caruso is the director responsible for I Am Number Four, Eagle Eye, and Disturbia. These were decent popcorn movies but nothing ground breaking. While i hate to jump the gun, it doesnt seem like he has the capabilities to direct a movie that involves more than basic characters. Eagle Eye and Disturbia also have something else in common and that would be Shia Lebouf. There are some directors who could be considered creatures of habit when it comes to their casting choices. Nolan and Caine, Bale, Hardy; Martin Scorsese and Leonardo  Dicaprio; Tim Burton and Johnny Deppy. Call me crazy but it wouldnt be a stretch to think Caruso would consider casting this kid as Jesse Custer. He has major box office appeal and having him as the headlining star could mean a huge profit for them. Plus, Shia was in Constantine. Apparently some of you actually liked that movie. *blank stare*

The Characters



 Like i mentioned earlier, Preacher has some very interesting characters that span over 9 Trade Paper Backs! Even though some of them might be considered minor, they all add to the bigger picture. While its a given that major players like Jesse, Tulip, Cassidy, Herr Starr, Arseface, and Saint of Killers will make an appearance (keeping my fingers crossed), some of the other characters will be left on the cutting room floor because lets face it, how will you manage to fit them all into a movie that would run for maybe a little over 2 hours? Could one of the best things about the book be its downfall on the silver screen? I dont know about you guys but i want to see Jody the Psychopath and the beastiality inclined T.C. on screen.

 Rating



For those unfamiliar with Ennis's body of work, Preacher is not your daddy's comic book. It is depraved and it will offend you and probably your religious beliefs. If you can get over that, you can appreciate the story telling. The sex, violence, blood, gore and perversion that is depicted on every page of this novel warrants a rating of NC-17. With hollywood's propensity to water down everything and get that PG-13 or soft R rating, could Preacher be the latest victim in their quest to always make bank?



The Walking Dead Treatment




The Zombie series has proven without a doubt that it can work!  AMC took a chance on it with just 6 episodes and they were rewarded with 8.1 million (4 million viewers in the 18-49 adult demographic) people tuning in to the season finale. Why not go this route with Preacher?  Like a lot of you said when this news broke, this entire volume would make more sense as a series on HBO, Starz, FX or even AMC. I appreciate the plethora of CBMs that we will be getting this coming summer, but not every comic book needs to be a movie and Preacher is one of them. Am i jumping the gun? Maybe. I mean...there is no trailer yet. I am just venting based on what i know so far about this project. Maybe Columbia Pictures will have a change of heart and decide to turn it into a series. Anything can happen. I did fast and pray for 30 Days for Henry Cavill to be cast as Superman (yes that was ALL ME!). This book may not be as popular as Captain America/Green Lantern/Yo Gabba Gabba but i am pretty sure its fans don't want another Jonah Hex.
PREACHER: Everyone Dies In The New Promo & Photos For The Series Finale: End Of The World
Related:

PREACHER: Everyone Dies In The New Promo & Photos For The Series Finale: "End Of The World"

PREACHER: The Apocalypse Is Nearly Upon Us In The New Promo & Photos For Season 4, Episode 9: Overture
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PREACHER: The Apocalypse Is Nearly Upon Us In The New Promo & Photos For Season 4, Episode 9: "Overture"

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longbowhunter
longbowhunter - 3/1/2011, 2:23 PM
This is gonna be a hard series to adapt, especially for one movie. Too much story too little time. I agree go the Walking Dead route.
selinakyle
selinakyle - 3/1/2011, 2:27 PM
Yeah i hate to sound like a debbie downer but this movie has all the elements of failure written all over it. :(

Thanks Anil, Trudy.
TorturedXGenius
TorturedXGenius - 3/1/2011, 2:29 PM
alot of comics work for film, but then again alot more work better for tv & PREACHER is definitely one of those properties
Bigbywolf
Bigbywolf - 3/1/2011, 2:30 PM
If they are going to make this, I'd like to see done as a HBO mini-series, but then again I'd like to see most Vertigo Imprint comics be adapted into HBO mini-series.
MrFloZeke
MrFloZeke - 3/1/2011, 3:04 PM
I have been reading comics since I was four years old. I grew up a DC kid. I love the VERTIGO line (s). I am a huge movie nerd. What exactly was so bad about CONSTANTINE? Sure, I would have liked it to take place in Great Britain with someone like Daniel Craig or Paul Bettany... but I thought it was pretty good for what it was, and a change of pace for Keanu Reeves. Why all the hate? Are a lot of you still pissed that a black guy played the Kingpin in DAREDEVIL (which absolutely WAS a piss poor adaptation) too?

Btw... This PREACHER movie will probably suck :/
mikebunt
mikebunt - 3/1/2011, 3:04 PM
NNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great comic. Would make a better Tv show than a movie tho.
DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 3/1/2011, 3:13 PM
As soon as I heard they were doing a Preacher movie, I thought "Aw shit, no Preacher HBO series?". But I still got excited.
Don't lose too much hope. Nobody knows who Preacher is, so they could take a chance and go R/18.
Then again, nobody knew about Hex or Constantine.
I'm so ambivielent about this movie. Excited and yet already mournful. It could be so perfect.
I mean, if you get anybody to read Preacher, they'll immediately love it and read all of it and want to see it on film. So maybe DJ Caruso just has to open book one and start to read and he'll instantly become one of us and insist on making the movie right.
Good article, by the way, SK. Like Preacher, very readable.
Gunslinger
Gunslinger - 3/1/2011, 3:22 PM
This movie will fail so hard I will probably shed tears. Preacher is one of my favourite series ever but there is no way they will be faithful to the comics. It's too risky and like Ms. Kyle said in the article, they will try and tone it down to get a pg13 rating.

On top of that... It'll be hard to cram everything that happens in "Gone to Texas" in a 2 hour movie, let alone the whole series! It's a waste, should have been a series for HBO or Starz (who I had never heard before Spartacus whih is one of the best series ever imho) and tell the whole story in 5-6 seasons... Maybe more with the story o the Saint of Killers and Arseface.

Making a movie is a huge mistake. Getting DJ to direct makes it worse. The possibility of getting Shia as Custer makes me wanna throw up.

Olyphant actually reminds of Custer (in the Fabris covers) and could probably do it but still... This should not be turned into a movie.

And I have to say I did enjoy Constantine, but probably because I'm not that familiar with the character. Only read about him in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run and he wasn't what you'd call a major character. Can understand why fans would have been pissed, it's very different from the comics.
DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 3/1/2011, 3:30 PM
@Shadowvoyd - That is the best critique I have ever heard on Constantine. That's exactly how I feel about it. It kept the vibe of the early Delano comics, perfectly. Don't get me wrong; I will probably die, one day, of a tumour that was born when I first saw that he was not blond or British and that he was being played by Keanu Reeves. But it satisfied me in strange Vertigo-esque ways.
But on this whole keeping-the-vibes-alive critereon, I'd have to also qualify Daredevil as a success. And it wasn't that bad an adaptation, to say that they got the whole Frank Miller run done in one film. It probably should have been a trilogy or a really, really long film, to do it properly.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 3/1/2011, 4:11 PM
I also liked Constantine. Was it the Hellblazer movie we should have had? No. but it could have been MUCH worse. They managed to keep the general vibe of the comic for me.

Anyway, great stuff Msk. I haven't seen I A,m Number 4(and don't intend to) but have hated all of Caruso's other films. The thing is, I would have gated thos emovies no matter who directed them! They were cookie cutter studio do-nut films. And Caruso was the man that landed em. Maybe..and I mean maybe his passion for Preacher will bring out a different side to him and he will deliver. I'm not optimistic, BUT I'm not gonna completely condemn the movie until I hear a little more about it. Obviously if he cast La Bouf all bets are off!
manymade1
manymade1 - 3/1/2011, 4:19 PM
Very well written MsK. Personally after seeing some of the characters in the comic, I'm not that optimistic, but I'm sure it wouldn't be worse than, Catwoman or Batman & Robin.
selinakyle
selinakyle - 3/1/2011, 4:32 PM
Constantine wasn't a bad movie. It was an ok movie. But i KNOW Constantine and therein lies my issue with the movie. Add emote-less Keanu and Shia Lebouf as Chas to the mix and i was done. I have a bootleg copy of the movie if that counts? I am hoping for a reboot.

Marikina
Marikina - 3/1/2011, 4:58 PM
"It'll be hard to cram everything that happens in "Gone to Texas" in a 2 hour movie"

Actually, I think that would be the easiest to do in the entire series. Especially since you can just toss out the mostly irrelevant "Reaver Cleaver" arc.

My problem is that I just can't see it working in live action. Any attempt at portraying it with any degree of seriousness is missing the point of the book. If you try to be faithful, you end with something like Punisher War Zone, because in the end the book is that absurd.
KeithM
KeithM - 3/1/2011, 4:58 PM
Good article MsKyle - well written, clear and with good, reasoned points. And I tend to agree with you. It could be a reasonable movie, but there's no doubt that it could only really be done justice over many, many hours (i.e. a series).

I really can't see a major studio being brave enough to do anything but a watered-down version anyway though, so I'm already preparing for another Constantine at best.

Also: I predict a boycott of the movie by some religious group or another, none of whom will have actually seen it, based on the content of the comic alone, none of whom will have actually read it. ;)
juggy4711
juggy4711 - 3/1/2011, 6:34 PM
Well done Ms.K. While I feel where you are coming from the truth is regardless of format, movie or TV series, I don't think anyone has the balls to do Preacher justice.

The best we can hope for is that they manage to do a decent adaptation of no more than the first two trades in a single movie and that the portrayal of the characters meets or exceeds our imaginations.

Some performances will, some won't and that will vary from one person to another. Even in a CBM I don't like over all, I can appreciate a good live action representation of a character and that adds to my reading experience.
jessecuster75
jessecuster75 - 3/1/2011, 6:45 PM
the best and saddest moment ever reading a comic was reading the last book best cause it was freaken awsome and sad cause i didn't want it to end
ZombieOverEasy
ZombieOverEasy - 3/1/2011, 7:03 PM
Film-making as an art is dead when it comes to mainstream studios. If they can water something down/change it and get as many asses in as many seats as possible, they will. When it comes to adaptations, to be fair, typically they get the bigger paycheck by stripping things down and re-imagining them to present it to a wider audience. So typically that's what they do.

We got Kick-Ass and Watchmen, both stuck relatively tight to the source material, but yielded less than what they were hoping to make in terms of money.

I'm trying to be in "wait and see" mode on this film, but I have little to no faith (lol) that it's going to turn out as I'd like it to.

I'll admit to enjoying Constantine, but not as a Hellblazer adaptation. I enjoyed it as a supernatural action flick. I'd prefer to enjoy Preacher because it's a decent adaptation of one of my favorite comics.

In the perfect world, we'd get Preacher and Hellblazer as TV adaptations on HBO/Showtime/AMC.
selinakyle
selinakyle - 3/1/2011, 7:40 PM
lol no spoilers EvilOlive...im still reading Alamo.
Thanks all. At this point all we can do is wait and see what happens i guess?
ghinzdra
ghinzdra - 3/2/2011, 1:25 AM
worst idea ever .
- Jesse cutter is a prototype of the southern gentlemen , a tall tough texas guy , very big on honor and friendship , not afraid of getting in a fight . I think we already had a good view of Shia lebaouf as a tough guy in indy 4.
- extremely graphic and : the series has cannibalism , mutilation including a woman half eaten by a crocodile , extreme physical and psychological torture on a child including killing his father before his own eyes/breaking his arm to make him beg/leaving him in a coffin for a week shitting and pissing himself .
- probably one of the most fierce attack against christian religion : christ is a mere man killed like a dumbass , his offspring is a teenager completely retarded who plays in his own shit , all believers in the comics are batcrazy psycho and a disgrace to mankind , god himself is a tyrannic buffon with an overblown ego , a huge crave for consideration and love and not even a remote interest in mankind's suffering as long as it doesn't benefit him in some way .
- it's packed with politically incorrect character : sexual weirdos of all kinds with all kind of fetish(animals , meat , etc.), arseface (gosh , the name itself ), redneck and KKK , etc...

I could go on and on like this . This comic is an outrage to 90 percent of the mainstream public values .It's impossible to turn in a movie . HBO drama is the way to go and it still would have to be watered down
CBMDeadpool
CBMDeadpool - 3/2/2011, 12:03 PM
I've only read the 1st trade but this movie better be rated R. You can't really sneak a PG 13. From what i understand everything about the 1st trade gets progressively worse as the series goes on with more gore, blood, sex, and violence. I love the book, I'm actually going to get Vol. 2 at some point this week.
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