Last month Todd McFarlane said that a new movie based on Spawn was nearing production and that he was working to tighten his 183-page script. Well the comic book legend has taken to Facebook to announce that his draft is now down to 132 pages, and he wants to do another edit and get some actors on board before he takes it to the studios.
“Right now I’m at 132 pages, which means it’s a little bit too long,” he says in the video. “I was up at around 145, but I’ve got some scenes to add in and then some scenes to pull out to go back down. Once I get it down I’m going to send it to a couple of people to read and give me their comments and they’ll tell me, ‘Todd I don’t think this line is good, we don’t like what you’ve done here’. Once I’ve got it down and buttoned up I’m going to get at least two actors, and at that point it will start to speed up. Still got to get to 120, get an actor or two and then officially tell you, ‘yes the money is in and we’re going to make it’.”
A feature length movie based on Spawn was released in 1997 with Michael Jai White (Arrow) as the titular role. McFarlane had said previously that Jamie Foxx was interested in starring, but that was back in 2013 so things may have changed since then.
Not quite the announcement some were hoping for, but it looks like McFarlane’s Spawn is getting closer to reality. While McFarlane himself seems confident that it “will happen”, he will need to get a studio to back the movie first.
Originally published March 16, 2016. Updated June 30, 2023.
