When artist Darick Robertson was on our podcast a couple weeks ago, he talked a little about the possible big screen adaptation of his and Garth Ennis’ series THE BOYS. Now, we’ve got some words straight from the project’s screenwriters and they’re looking to make it just as shocking as the Dynamite comic.
Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi are two names that are going to be a lot more familiar to fans after April. That’s because they’re the screenwriting pair that scripted the upcoming CLASH OF THE TITANS remake, which is directed by Louis Leterrier (who, of course, directed 2008’s THE INCREDIBLE HULK). They’re writing the movie for Columbia Pictures and the whole deal’s been set up by Kickstart Entertainment, who also produced the WANTED movie and has been trying to get an adaptation of another Ennis property, PREACHER, off the ground for a few years.
If Hay & Manfreid’s enthusiasm for the property were any greater, it might be able to power a city block.
As Phil Hay enthused to Superherohype recently…
"That's one that's like a total dream project for us because we're such huge fans of the book and of Garth Ennis… It's just been amazing. Neal Moretz, the producer over there [at Columbia], and the studio have been great because they actually really do get what makes the comic book special, and we're talking to directors on that now, too, so that would be just amazing, and it's something that's very close to our hearts."
Matt Manfredi also talked about the challenge of balancing respect for the material while still translating it properly...
“When we began, we got on the phone and spent a lot of time talking to [Garth Ennis]… [He’s an] awesome guy and he kind of gave us his blessing to take it where we needed to take it… He said, 'Don't be too precious. Feel free to... if you need to kill someone, kill someone.' Obviously we love love love the books, and the overarching storyline had yet to be finished, so we said, 'Well, we think this is where it's going, are we right? Is this going to happen to this character?' and he was like, 'You're close, don't worry about it. Do what you have to do.' It wasn't in a dismissive way, it was in a very generous way."
As if their “comics connection” wasn’t solidified enough, the duo have also been working on an adaptation of Dark Horse’s 2000 series R.I.P.D. which mixed cops with monsters.
I think the performance of KICK-ASS will have a great influence on the future of this project -- given their similar ultra-violent approaches to spoofing tights 'n capes. Not only will that influence be in regard to whether or not the film will be made, but it'll also be in respect to the question of how literally the superhero element will be retained. Mark Millar talked about how the producers of WANTED liked the comic's central concept but chose to excise the various “in-jokes” about supervillains because they thought mainstream audiences wouldn't get it. In contrast then, he and Matthew Vaughn have gotten to do KICK-ASS basically the same as the comic. So that movie's success might determine if the BOYS movie will still see the Boys bumping heads with superheroes or, perhaps, more generalized fantasy characters.
I turn the spotlight on you now, oh dangerous Comic Vine community. How would you do a BOYS movie? What do you want to see? And should Simon Pegg star?
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia Comics. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.