Preacher TV Show

Well, at least the movie has gone away…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061129/tv_nm/preacher_dc

If you haven’t read Preacher, go and pick up the first collection, “Gone to Texas,” today. It’s one of the greatest things ever written.

Christ, I hope they don’t fuck this up.

Dude I thought I was the only person who liked Preacher. Ennis is insane and does a lot of anal sex jokes. Also screw The Da Vinci Code I prefer his version of Jesus

[quote]harris447 wrote:
Well, at least the movie has gone away…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061129/tv_nm/preacher_dc

If you haven’t read Preacher, go and pick up the first collection, “Gone to Texas,” today. It’s one of the greatest things ever written.

Christ, I hope they don’t fuck this up.

[/quote]

oooooooooohhhhh!!!

me too mate, me too!

Holy shit! That’s friggin fantastic! Preacher is one of the best comic series I’ve ever read.

I remembered talk of a movie and saw this supposed photo of Arseface, but that was a long while ago…If they did it up right on a cable channel, it could be incredible.

James Marsden would make a great cassidy. I heard a rumor he would be in the title role… bad choice, great cassidy though, he basically has been doing the role for a few years anyway.

Don’t know who could play Jesse.

I hope they don’t forget to add in the ghost of John Wayne, I love the conversation’s they had

As long as its kept as hard, dark, and insane as the original story. No censoring.

[quote]Naphta wrote:
James Marsden would make a great cassidy. I heard a rumor he would be in the title role… bad choice, great cassidy though, he basically has been doing the role for a few years anyway.

Don’t know who could play Jesse.[/quote]

Marsden was attached to play Jesse for the movie.

Thank go that thing never got made. I read the scipt; it was the worst piece of shit you ever saw. No Saint of Killers, no Grail, no Starr.

I always thought Ewen MacGregor would make the best Cassady, but I don’t think they have the money for him if it’s gonna be on HBO.

My pick for Tulip is Moon Bloodgood.

(In the spirit of full disclosure, I have no earthly idea whom Moon Bloodgood is, but the fact that there is a human being named Moon Bloodgood is everything that’s good with America.)

[quote]harris447 wrote:
Thank go that thing never got made. I read the scipt; it was the worst piece of shit you ever saw. No Saint of Killers, no Grail, no Starr.
[/quote]

You’re kidding!! It isn’t the same story without those pieces! It’d be like removing the dark brutality to create something else entirely.

What was the concept of the movie script version you read? I’m sure there are a few segments of the overall storyline that could be dropped, but for a series they could cover the majority of the story. HBO did a hell of a good job with a similar story in Carnivale.

Wish more people would’ve been interested in that show. If they could do the same with Preacher, I’d subscribe.

Seeing Ennis’ version of the Grail come to life would be excellent.

A bit of info I found today:

Mark Steven Johnson Preaches Preacher
The Ghost Rider director on his plans for the HBO comic book adaptation.
by Scott Collura

December 6, 2006 - Mark Steven Johnson has already dabbled in the realm of cinematic hell with his film version of Marvel Comic’s iconic Ghost Rider character (due this coming February), but now he’s got another hellish project in the works: the recently announced HBO series Preacher.

Based on the DC Comics Vertigo series by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, Preacher is the tale of Jesse Custer, a small-town minister who goes on a cross-country search looking for God. Accompanying Custer on his journey is his hitman ex-girlfriend and a drunken vampire pal, and together this trio encounter various demons, angels and other biblical types during their search.

“Preacher I’ve always wanted to do, man,” says Johnson. "I mean, Preacher is like the greatest, but it’s so difficult, and I love it more than anybody. And I remember reading a script awhile ago that was going to go to film and I was like, ‘Uh, how do you make a two-hour movie out of Preacher?’ You can’t do it. So when I went to HBO I said very simply, 'Here’s the comic.

There’s 75 issues plus the four issue Saint of Killers.’ I said, ‘Every issue is an hour. It’s a six-year show.’ And HBO, God bless them, went: ‘Cool.’"

Johnson says the plan is to be not just loyal to the source material, but “exact.” He took his first meeting with HBO just last week, and the filmmaker says that he kept expecting the network to balk at his plans for the very adult series.

“It’s like ? Odin Quincannon having sex with a meat-person,” he laughs, referring to a bit from the comic. “If I can do that, I’ve made my mark on the world! So everything is like so out there and this is it. They were like, ‘God bless.’ I was like, ‘F**king HBO has got balls.’ They were like, ‘Bring it. Do it.’”

As for those fans who have doubted his ability to properly translate Preacher to the screen, Johnson has heard it all before.

“It’s just like Daredevil, it’s just like Ghost Rider,” he says. "No one comes to your door and rings the doorbell and goes, ‘Hey, you want to do these movies?’ I’m the last guy. But I’m the guy who gets it done because I care and I do it. So people have tried to make Daredevil, they’ve tried to make Ghost Rider, and it hasn’t happened. But I got them made.

And Daredevil was [with] mixed results and Ghost Rider I hope much better [results], and Preacher I hope exact! In fact today I e-mailed Kevin Smith and I said, ‘Dude, I just got Preacher. I know you love it. If it goes - and who knows if it will - but if it goes, would you please direct an episode?’ Because I want to go to Kevin. I want to go to Robert Rodriguez.

I want to go to all these people and do guest directors. I think that would be really cool. I want it to be a prestige thing. You love Preacher? Come do a show and let that be – because usually it’s a guest actor. I want it to be guest director, but keep the spirit of it, keep the vibe of it, but also know there will be a different imprint every time when it comes to directing the show.

My job is to help write the shows. I’m working with Garth every day. He’s a big part of it [to] make sure it’s exactly what we want, and then let the director put his imprint on it, but it’s got to be the book."

As Johnson points out, it’s still early in the process, so early in fact that he hasn’t even written an episode. As with Daredevil and Ghost Rider, he says that people have been trying to adapt Preacher “for years and years and years.” Johnson’s fingers are crossed that his attempt will be the one that finally brings the comic to life. Part of the process, Johnson hopes, will be keeping the creator of the comic involved in the show.

“If he wants to be [involved], absolutely,” says Johnson. "I’ve never met him [before, so] I was like, ‘It’s so great to talk to you and ask questions.’ And as always happens with the creators, they’re like, 'Dude, don’t be beholden to the source material.

I just did that because, you know, A, B, or C.’ He was like, ‘I just did what I did. Do whatever you want.’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no. It has to be exactly that.’ So he’s the one that’s going, ‘Use your own thing.’ But I said to Garth, ‘Tell me are there any stories you wanted to tell but you weren’t able to? Was there something that you wanted to do but didn’t have time for? I want to hear that too.’ Because we want to fill it out, we want to make it like a six-year show or above with a definite ending, ending the way it does which is incredibly controversial. Again, no one would have the balls to do this but HBO."

When asked whether or not he thinks the success of NBC’s hit show Heroes had anything to do with HBO’s taking on Preacher, Johnson says he doubts it. The two properties bear little resemblance beyond their shared comic book vibe, and Johnson says that HBO has been in talks to pick up Preacher for some time now. He sees the project as being more similar to Ghost Rider, in fact, though ultimately Preacher is going to be easier to adapt.

“Ghost Rider came in and out of circulation for years for a reason, because it had flaws,” he says. “The image was great, the idea was great. So my goal was to find out what were the strengths and then what could I bring to it. ? Preacher doesn’t need that. Preacher is perfect in my opinion. All the things that made people go, ‘Nah, it’s not for me,’ make me go, ‘Yeah!’ That’s what I’m so excited about.”

[quote]Plisskin wrote:
harris447 wrote:
Thank go that thing never got made. I read the scipt; it was the worst piece of shit you ever saw. No Saint of Killers, no Grail, no Starr.

You’re kidding!! It isn’t the same story without those pieces! It’d be like removing the dark brutality to create something else entirely.

What was the concept of the movie script version you read? I’m sure there are a few segments of the overall storyline that could be dropped, but for a series they could cover the majority of the story. HBO did a hell of a good job with a similar story in Carnivale.

Wish more people would’ve been interested in that show. If they could do the same with Preacher, I’d subscribe.

Seeing Ennis’ version of the Grail come to life would be excellent.[/quote]

I actually posted a review of the script when I had just read it on AintItCool a while back…here it is:

The Preacher script reminds me of Warren Zevon. Warren was a great songwriter, one of the best America’s ever produced, but when you say his name, you’ve gotta say, “The guy who did ‘Werewolves of London,’” or no one knows who you’re talking about.

And the thing is, ‘Werewolves’ doesn’t really sound like the rest of the stuff he did, so Zevon fans are consigned to spend the rest of their days going, “No, you don’t understand. He’s a genius, and that fucking pop song ruined his reputation.”

Get used to saying that, Preacher fans. Cuz when this movie comes out, you’re going to be fighting an uphill battle trying to convince people that that the comic series was one of the best things ever written in the medium and the piece of dogshit movie isn’t representative of it at all.

Garth Ennis wrote the first draft, and Rachel Talalay & Chris Donaldson are credited with revisions. Haven’t heard of them’ Neither have their agents.

Anyway, it’s loosely based on parts of “Gone to Texas” and “Until the End of the World”. Jesse gets his powers, runs into Tulip and Cassidy, fights the Saint of Killers and kills Jody and T.C. at Gramma’s place.

The problem’s not with the plot; it probably would have been the storyline I went with. Yeah, there’s no Grail, no Starr, no Skeeter. That’s not the problem.

The problem is that the tone, so carefully modulated between American Gothic/black comedy/action movie in the comic is all over the place. So much so that there are quite a few moments any filmmaker would give their left leg to avoid: the unintentional laugh.

When Cassidy is first revealed as a vampire (after 30 pages of clues any mouth-breather could decipher), is comes off as…well, silly. When the Duke’s ghost shows up to give Jesse advice, it’s a “What the Fuck’” moment instead of the awe-inspiring American Myth from the comic.

Another problem is the flashbacks: I know it’s a 115 page script instead of a 66 issue series (not including the SoK mini and the various one-shots), but when you tell the story of Jesse’s childhood in a page-and-a-half, or the backstory of the Saint in one page, it just kinda glosses over the reason these guys are fighting.

Also–and this is mostly for fans of the comic–remember Sheriff Root? Minor character in the first couple issues? With the exception of the Saint, he’s the major bad guy in this. That just doesn’t make sense, plus he doesn’t get to use his trademark catchphrase until; page 90 or so. (If you’re not a fan, I won’t ruin it. I’ll just say that the Sheriff blames quite a few things on extraterrestrial minorities.)

Maybe Preacher is one of those things that can’t be easily translated. I’m thinking it would have been better done as an animated long-form on HBO. But, I could be wrong, and it could be great. After all, it is being directed by the talented woman behind Tank Girl, so there’s really nothing to worry about.

Sorry this wasn’t better news, Preacher fans. Think of it this way: they haven’t fucked up Transmetropolitan yet. Plus, a little bird tells me that the Powers script might be the best comic-related screenplay ever. Even better than the Aronofsky Batman draft. Trust me on this one, and call me…
Eel O’Brian

“Garth Ennis wrote the first draft, and Rachel Talalay & Chris Donaldson are credited with revisions. Haven’t heard of them’ Neither have their agents.”

Revisions being the key word here. I only read the first TPB several years ago and I enjoyed it. Dumbed down is generally what happens to ruin a story.

Just imagine how bad they would fuck up Watchmen. :wink:

On a side note I may have to pick up some TPBs of Transmetropolitan.