Now that he finally has funding in place thanks to Blumhouse Productions, Todd McFarlane has revealed that cameras will start rolling on his R-rated Spawn reboot this coming February.
“It’s going to be dark and R-rated,” said McFarlane, noting that the $10 million-budgeted production won’t be R-rated like Deadpool “with a couple of F-bombs and a couple of bare asses.”
Asked whether he felt confident directing the film given his lack of experience, McFarlane responded that: “I didn’t used to draw comic books and I drew comic books and I won awards. I don’t know how to read music and I have a Grammy Award. I’m spending my own money so who cares if it doesn’t work out. It’s a $10 million budget movie, and (a studio) would just get a 22-year-old punk director. I just want to be the old punk directing it.”
Meanwhile, speaking to Comic Book, McFarlane revealed that he’s hoping to have Stan Lee do a cameo in the movie:
“I got a good buddy named Stan Lee, and he keeps going, ‘When are we going to shoot that cameo, Todd?’ So hopefully, I’ll get Stan to maybe come in there and do something. I want to do a dark anti-cameo, unfriendly Stan Lee, and he’s like, ‘Todd, I’m in!’ I’ve explained what I want to do, and he’s like, ‘Oh, cool, So, I’m not gonna be, like, the happy-go-lucky?’ I go, ‘No, you’re gonna be ugly. You’re gonna be this Schlitz-drinking, wife beater, three-day-old shave, snarly dude,’ and he’s like, ‘I love it!’ So, we’ll see if we can pull it off.”
The Spawn reboot is set to hit cinemas in 2019, and with pre-production set to get underway around Christmas, expect some casting news soon.
Originally published October 8, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
