Holy Crap! Literally.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sam Mendes (director of Jarhead, Road to Perdition & American Beauty) has been named as the director for the PREACHER feature length film that Columbia just picked up the rights to make.

No writers are attached yet, but Mendes will apparently start the search some time after his new film (Revolution Road) is done with post-production tweaks.

While there have been other stops and starts to Preacher hitting the big or small screen, this might be the best fit creatively and commercially. Here's hope this winds up in a theater near you in a couple years.

FYI: I didn't mean the "crap" in the title in a derogatory way, just as a synonym for "stuff". I would have used "shit", but it seemed a little harsh for a title.

(hat tip to MTV Splash Page)

Torso Fast Tracked?

Over on MTV Splash Page, they're reporting various sources that are saying David Fincher might start production on the TORSO movie as early March 2009.

You know why I think they're right? When replying to the MTV Splash Page twitter linking to the story, it garnered this response:

BRIANMBENDIS @mtvsplashpage :) 25 minutes ago from web in reply to mtvsplashpage

Yeah, I think the talk of fast tracking is spot-on.

Dark Superman?

By now, everyone has read that the WB's Jeff Robinov said they were going to make a whole slew of super-hero movies that would be as dark as the characters will allow.

When I first read that, I thought, "well, so much for that summit with the comic book creators!" Clearly, Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns wouldn't say you have to make Superman dark (unless they were suggesting an Icon movie, instead...that would kick all kinds of ass, IMO).

But I've realized over the last few days that it was a knee-jerk reaction based on reading a quote that can be interpreted many ways. After catching Kevin Melrose link to an MTV Splash Page* talking to comic book creators about the announcement, I'd have to say I'm in the Seagle/Waid camp.

“Heroic struggles are basically all dark in tone. The idea of ‘villains’ implies something bad happening to good people most of the time, and that’s dark. Heroes look brighter emerging from dire consequence successfully,” said Seagle.

...

“I [focused] on the part where they’ll make the films as dark as the characters allow us to go,” (Waid) said. “Hopefully they realize that Superman is not a dark character, but that doesn’t mean the story can’t be darker or more threatening."

If you think about it, Singer's movie was kind of dark...and I don't just mean the muted colors of the costume. When Routh gets his ass handed to him on an island of Kryptonite, it certainly is a dire consequence that he emerges from successfully.

Wait a minute...maybe this dark thing still is bad...

*Congrats to Rick Marshall for signing on with MTV Splash Page. Great guy. Glad he wasn't searching for a new gig for too long.