From printed page to silver screen

With the impending release of the Kick Ass film and all of the attention it is receiving, Fortune Favours looks at some other serials that have yet to make it to the big screen and who should be in the cast.


The Boys

(Garth Ennis, 2006 - Present)

Turning the superhero world upside down, a group of CIA agents take on corrupt superheroes. Characters such as the Homelander and Tek Knight parody staple comic book characters. The Boys, who are made up of calculating Butcher, loyal Mother’s Milk, rookie Wee Hughie, off-kilter Frenchie and the silent-but-deadly Female, tackle superhero groups who abuse their power. Everything about the Boys’ universe is slightly different from what we know – superheroes are bad, the Brooklyn Bridge was destroyed at 9/11 and the CIA are depicted as acting in the public’s best interest.

A film has been optioned by Columbia Pictures but since the initial hype of the series has somewhat cooled, it may be sometime before the The Boys are unleashed on the movie world. However, this may be the most filmable series available to Hollywood.



Casting Couch

The character of Wee Hughie was designed for Simon Pegg and when an adaptation is made, he will be the first to be cast. Lazy casting directors will probably look to Vinnie Jones for Butcher but I would have serious doubts if he had the acting chops to pull it off. Ving Rhames is spot on for second-in-command Mother’s Milk.

If I were to cast the superheroes, I would have Hollywood stars in the roles to further emphasis the what seems to be good is bad twist of the series Brad Pitt for the Homelander and Angelina Jolie as Queen Maeve would be a good start.


Preacher

(Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon, 1995 – 2000)

At one point touted to be a HBO mini-series, this American road trip epic took in one man’s search for God after he is infused with an unholy offspring of an angel and a demin. Joined by hard-drinking Irish vampire Cassidy and reformed hitwoman girlfriend Tulip, Preacher Jesse Custer travels across America in search of the man upstairs who has gone into hiding. The unlikely group however are being pursued by Herr Starr, the leader of a religious group obsessed with the bloodline of Christ and the Saint of Killers, an Angel of Death-style character with a score to settle with everyone.

Sam Mendes has been linked to the project but according to scriptwriter John August “there’s no release date, no cast, no locations, no nothing”. The scribe will however have his work cut out if he is to condense nine volumes into a two-hour movie without losing any of the quality. A mini-series would be ideal for this serial, allowing for all of the secondary characters to get the time they deserve.

Casting Couch

Ben Kingsley or Patrick Stewart would be perfect for the whore-mongering, calculating Starr. Unfortunately vampires are in vogue now, so it would need the perfect actor to play Cassidyas something different to every other bloodsucker out there, Aidan Gillen could pull off this dark character that has far too many skeleton in his closet. James Marsden was linked with the role of Jesse in 2002 and while he may be visually similar to the character, he doesn’t have the determination of Custer.



Sandman

(Neil Gaiman, 1989 - 1996)

From the mid-eighties to the early nineties, this was the graphic novel to be reading. Chronicling the work of lead character, Dream, it took in death and Shakespeare with everything in between.
The series flirted with the actual DC Comics universe with characters Constantine and Element Girl making appearances. With arcs and stand-alone stories in equal measure, every tale in the series is told beautifully and is a joy to read and consume.

Like the Watchmen up until its release, there is always talk of a Sandman movie. Gaiman has received several scripts but has yet to settle on anything. While some of Gaiman’s work has made the jump to the big screen such as Coraline and Stardust, any attempt to make this saga into a feature film or heaven forbid, a series, would fall extremely short.

Casting Couch

Johnny Depp would be the first port of call for Dream if a film was to be made. The character looks like Gaiman himself and perhaps he would be the man to play the role – despite his lack of acting experience, he knows the character the best, if he could convey on screen the same character he created for the page, it could be a piece of dream casting that would perhaps satisfy the strongest of fans.


There are many more comic book serials that have the potential to be made into a film or series. Post the ones you’d like to see made into a movie and who would be on your casting couch.