Preacher Coming to HBO

[Bradylama]

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=39049

HBO is developing a one-hour series based on the popular 1990s Vertigo comic series Preacher, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Mark Steven Johnson, who directed the comic-book adaptations Daredevil and the upcoming Ghost Rider for the big screen, is writing the pilot. Howard Deutch (The Whole Ten Yards) is set to direct. Johnson and Deutch will executive-produce along with Michael De Luca, George Agusto, Chris Bender and J.C. Spink.

The comic series, created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, ran from 1995 to 2000. It told the story of a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by a supernatural entity conceived by the unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon. Given immense powers, the preacher sets out with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire on a journey across America to find God—who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven—and hold him accountable for his negligence. Ennis and Dillon will serve as co-executive producers of the HBO series.

The latest incarnation of the project follows several attempts to bring the comic to the screen, including a proposed feature film starring James Marsden, which would have been produced by Kevin Smith and had a reported budget of $25 million, the trade paper reported.

Sounds interesting, but the whole affair leaves a lot of concerns for me. Not least of which is that the guy who directed the Daredevil movie is writing the pilot.

A lot of what made Preacher tolerable and humorous was that the comic format gave it a cartooney feel. The entire presentation and art style drove home the fact that Preacher was a comic to be enjoyed and not absorbed.

Turning it into a miniseries, no less an HBO miniseries is probably going to make the whole thing more creepy than fun.

My fears could be entirely unfounded, but the way HBO keeps trying to "up the ante," making a show about attempting to hold a negligible egomaniac God accountable and a massive subplot surrounding the inbred descendants of Jesus Christ sounds like the kind of stuff that would set the Evangelical community on fire.

 

[starkc]

I really liked those comics, I hope they don't screw it up.

 

[Wooz]

 

[welsh]

Thing that concerns me is that HBO had a pretty decent show about the battle between good and evil and which touched on some rather spiritual ideas in Carnivale- then it dropped the show after the second season despite the shows critical praise.

I suspect it was all the freaking Christians who got pissed off that a preacher might be the devil that killed the show. That or the hypocracy of religion?

Either way, I worry about HBO's ability to do good horror, although I generally think their shows are the best on TV.

 

[Bradylama]

Oh Wooz, you are so cool and counter-culture.

I still love you, though.

 

[DirtyDreamDesigner]

I enjoyed reading Preacher a lot and I sincerely doubt that anybody could make a faithful TV show out of it, and I expect that many elements of the story will be removed.

That being said, I'm pretty interested to see how they pull it off.

 

[Wooz]

Oh Wooz, you are so cool and counter-culture.

Eheh. I knew it'd be a good occasion to show off My Cool Forum Pic Of The Week

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

A lot of what made Preacher tolerable and humorous was that the comic format gave it a cartooney feel. The entire presentation and art style drove home the fact that Preacher was a comic to be enjoyed and not absorbed.

This is where Sin City failed for me. There's certain things that you can get away with saying or doing in a comic book, but when you see an actor say or do them with a straight face just makes me roll my eyes. That being said if anyone can pull off a decent production, and won't shy away from the edgier elements, it would be HBO.

Oh and don't the Evangelicals already have their own channels?

 

[starkc]

HBO Airs whatever they please, I doubt it was evangelicals that made them pull Carnivale. It was probobly more a problem with the viewers, that is, not enough of them. Or the various actors could have quit to go on and do other things.


Regardless, I have high hopes for preacher, I think it'll be alright, maybe not 100% true to the comic, but still worth watching and maybe recording.

 

[IvyMike]

The frightening thing about that adaptation is that Mark Steven Johnson is attached. Have you seen the Ghost Rider teasers...?

HBO has an impressive track record though, so it could be cool (never read the comics myself).

 

[Malky]

Preacher is probably my favorite comic series of all time, and I'm very excited about this. Excited, and cautiously optimistic. I'm not too happy about the creative talent that has been announced, aside from the fact that Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon are executive producing and will have plenty of say in the creative direction of the show. I hope they get the casting right, at least.

About Daredevil - I don't think the problem was the original script so much as the direction and performances. The extended cut isn't bad, it's just not good. Such a shame, Daredevil is one of Marvel's best characters.