Todd McFarlane Says 'Spawn' Film Could Shoot in 2014

Comic book icon and now toy merchant Todd McFarlane has been planning for years to bring his most famous creation Spawn back to the big screen. Mostly he's been spurred on by the utter contempt fans have for the terrible 1997 film from a director you've never heard of, which tossed aside the Hellish violence in favor of what turned out to be a weak PG-13 dark comedy. After stringing fans along repeatedly with promises that the reboot, relaunch, or sequel would happen, nothing has actually been done. But McFarlane dared to speak on the subject again, and now some are saying this time will be different.

While speaking with The Gate, McFarlane says that production on Spawn could begin next year, but as usual he's leaving the door open for nothing to happen....

McFarlane: “The reality is that I’ve got a lot of pressure. They want me to deliver the script by the end of the year, which would basically mean we’d be shooting next year. So, that’s the goal right now.”

Spawn used to be the industry's most popular comic, out-selling heavyweights like Marvel's X-men, but it's been out of the spotlight for a long time. McFarlane no longer maintains the same level of control over the character, focusing the bulk of his energies to the hugely successful McFarlane Toys and McFarlane Entertainment. They continue to be the reasons why the film has never moved forward in all this time...

McFarlane:  “The thing that keeps slowing it down is that the negotiation I’ve done is I write, produce, direct, but I’ve got to push a lot of my other endeavors off to the side, so I can just get tunnel vision on it. And so everybody at my company is now going, ‘We’ve got to find Todd the time to finish all this.”

He estimates that filming could take 60-70 days, and as he's repeatedly stated the plan is to go in more of a horror direction than the previous incarnation. Hopefully something closer in tone to the excellent HBO animated series...

McFarlane: "It's not going to be a giant budget with a lot of special effects; it's going to be more of a horror movie and a thriller movie, not a superhero one. I've got so many people phoning now that I’ve got to get it done. I’ve made some promises to people this year."

 He adds that some "Academy Awards guys" are interested in being involved with the film, so presumably we won't be seeing Michael Jai White back as the heroic hellspawn, nor John Leguizamo as his demon clown nemesis, Violator. He's talked about Jamie Foxx playing Spawn in the past, but he's probably going to be busy with Spider-Man for a good little while.

While it's a step in the right direction that McFarlane seems to be making plans, it's worth noting that very little of what he's said is all that new. In fact he doesn't really say anything concrete, just expresses a desire to do something maybe possibly kinda hopefully in 2014. I really want to see a proper Spawn film happen, but I also recognize that its moment may have passed long ago. It was popular during a very specific grim 'n ultra-violent era, and then just faded into relative obscurity. Do we really think a Spawn movie can thrive in the superhero era we have now?