I just ran across this from a week ago:
Mark Steven Johnson, who brought Daredevil and Ghost Rider to the big screen, told The Continuum that his attempts to bring Garth Ennis' Preacher to HBO as a series were close but ultimately unsuccessful.
"We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going," Johnson told The Continuum. "But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point!
"It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO."
Johnson goes on to say that rumor is someone is looking to pick up the option for a Preacher movie, but I'm pretty sure that rumor floats for everything ever written, so take that for what it's worth.
I did have high hopes, based on "the Sopranos" and "Deadwood" as well as other HBO original programming, for a Preacher series that would be true to the original material. I often find that comic book-based movies are never as good as the source, so I'm not all that hyped for a Preacher movie. It's gonna take someone with Vincent K. McMahon's grapfruit-sized balls to make a movie that keeps the original ending to Preacher intact. Given the nature of the Preacher story, a long-running serial presentation of the material would allow the outrage over the blasphemous tale to wear itself out long before the shocking finale, but the one-off nature of the movie would encapsulate everything in such a short span that anyone signing off on this would have to be willing to dodge a lot of outcry, boycott threats, and otherwise negative attention.
4 comments:
Well, in his defense, Vampire mythology is old and tired and far from shocking these days. It's almost been done and mainstreamed to the point of cliche. I'm sure there's a great deal of homoeroticism and bloodplay in "True Blood," but that's nothing close to two specific plot points in Preacher that I won't mention to avoid spoiling it for anyone, which would shock and offend a great deal of people to no end.
And I don't really know what is meant by Preacher being too violent, because most of the violence in that book is either Jesse and Cassidy brawling with people, which is violent but no more than Deadwood or the Sopranos' type of violence. Most of the gun-based violence is over-the-top, like when the Saint of Killers takes on the Grail at Masada or in Monument Valley. It's pretty much the anti-religious and blasphemous themes that got this show the axe.
How could it be too violent and controversial if it is on HBO? I mean I have seen some violent shit on FX (Shield being the show I have in mind). They probably do not have enough faith in it since it is based on a graphic novel. I do not know-just thinking out loud.
It's not the violence or dark tone of Preacher that are keeping it off HBO. The most basic summary of the story, that the title character is a preacher who drinks, swears, fornicates, and is using his ability to speak with the Voice of God to track an absentee God down and force Him to apologize for what he has done to humanity is enough on its' own. There are other aspects of Preacher that are fairly offensive, but without spoiling it, one of the main plot points and the ending are incredibly blasphemous and would be extremely offensive to Christians who can't accept that others may not respect their taboos and sensitivities.
Preacher was probably able to fly under the radar because it was a comic book and it ran from the mid 90s through 2000, when conservative Christian organizations weren't getting as much publicity as they did in the 80s and are right now. Those of you at SGM who are of the Christian faith might not be offended by it, but you could damn sure guarantee James Dobson and his ilk will have a super-mega conniption fit if or when Preacher makes it to the screen.
Hell the Baptist Church across the street from The Hooters in Greenville SC pitched a fit when The Hooters opened.
I figured it could raise (no pun intended)the attendance of the youth in the church. I can hear it now! "Hey John, You want to go stare at some breasteses after we learn about Jesus!"
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