Back in 1997, covert government assassin Al Simmons was introduced to the moviegoing masses as Spawn, a vengeful, supernatural hero hell-bent on bringing his former employer, Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen), down to size.
Helmed by Mark Dippe, the cult actioner proved to be a decidedly different spin on the superhero format, even if it failed to resonate with viewers. But Todd McFarlane’s long-gestating reboot offers Al Simmons another shot at the big time, and it seems the writer, director and all-around comic book veteran has been meeting with potential cast members for Blumhouse’s Spawn movie.
Via Instagram, McFarlane, who is the brains behind Al Simmons and his hellish alter-ego, reaffirmed that casting is well underway. And he even bumped into Mark Dippe this past weekend, too. Taking to the social media platform, he shared the following update:
WHAT..!? I was in Hollywood all day Friday talking casting roles to various actors about different character roles for the #Spawn movie. SOOO…of course when I am on my plane going back home the person who gets on last and sits next to me (literally) is the guy who directed the first Spawn movie (Mark Dippe)!?!? Had not seen him in years. Weird.
Tethered to an R rating, there’s a tremendous amount of buzz surrounding the project, as it’s seemingly a “dark” and “nasty” rendition of the titular hellspawn. It’ll also take a leaf out of Jaws‘ book in the sense that Spawn will be used sparingly. Because if New Line’s It reboot proved anything, it’s that a movie monster tends to lose its shock value the longer it spends on screen.
And though McFarlane has been quoted as saying that Spawn won’t speak a single word in the film, turns out he’ll still have a means of communicating:
So, there’s a nuance here right? So Spawn, the being of Spawn, the sentinel being of Spawn doesn’t speak, but I’ve created another way to be able to give him a voice. But what won’t happen is that you won’t see Spawn in his big costume and cape go ‘hello everybody. I’m here to save the day’. None of that. But the presence of Spawn will have an outlet to get across his voice in a manner that will be fairly obvious to people who follow the Spawn comic book over the years.
Spawn is yet to settle on an official release date, though if Todd McFarlane has his way, it’ll slot into one of two launch windows: early 2019, and therefore just prior to Hollywood’s blockbuster season, or Halloween of 2019.