One of the more interesting films currently in development is the upcoming Spawn movie. The Spawn comic book franchise was previously adapted as a feature film in the 1990’s, although it didn’t exactly catch on with audiences. Now it looks like the next attempt will be quite different. In fact, according to creator Todd McFarlane, the new Spawn movie will actually feature a completely different origin for the iconic character.
Here’s what Todd McFarlane specifically had to say while speaking with CBR, where he revealed the reason behind the new writer Brian Tucker:
“Well, it wasn’t just my decision. There’s a handful of other people working on it that we haven’t announced yet. One of the people working on it: that is going to be a big name when we finally get to announce it. I think he said he went through close to a hundred scripts by as many people as he could.”
He further explained that the new writer was chosen for his perspective. It seems that he’d be able to add a more relevant and truthful side to the character than Todd McFarlane could, who is a “white, Canadian kid.”
“We were looking ideally for someone that could bring a voice to the character on two levels: I’m just a white, Canadian kid. I haven’t lived the life of a man in America of someone with dark skin.”
He further emphasized how this new perspective on the beloved character would change things:
“We thought it was important to get the perspective of somebody who has, someone with that perspective coming in and adding a slightly different bent to what you and I, as comic book readers, already know as to what Spawn is about.”
This is where the change to the origin story of Spawn will come in for the new movie.
“I didn’t want to do the comic book origin story from Issues #1-3 in the movie. We were looking for people, without even telling them that, to give something a little bit different. Unfortunately, 80-90% of them, according to the other person involved who was interviewing most of them, were falling into the trap of retelling the comic book story in the movie. We saw that movie, that movie came out 20+ years ago from New Line. So what haven’t we seen that would be interesting and relevant today, both in terms of filmmaking and social content.”
It’s interesting that they’re taking so many different sides and perspectives into consideration. It seems they want to do their best to avoid what went wrong for the 1990’s film, even though it was relatively faithful to the comics. Of course, this could also mean the new film might further alienate fans. Hopefully they find the proper balance and manage to make a modern Spawn adaptation that everyone can enjoy.