Todd MacFarlane's Spawn has not had the easiest trip to the silver screen. Originally conceived as a lower-budget affair which would serve as MacFarlane's directorial debut and an experience that'd make 10-year-olds cry, the would-be Blumhouse production has yet to materialize despite being announced nearly three years ago. Some of you might be wondering, not unreasonably, if this movie is ever gonna happen.
Well, there's no telling, but Todd MacFarlane is not giving up. In fact, in a new interview with Shoryuken, MacFarlane has reiterated his list of demands for making the film, and seems dead-set on seeing this thing through to the bitter end. Says MacFarlane:
"I have very few demands for the movie. It has to be Rated R, there’s no debate around that. With the story I want to tell...I am less concerned about what happens in the movie as long as Spawn is “cool” and “badass”. The last demand is that I am the director. That’s it. Everything else is up for conversation.”
You heard the man, Hollywood: Todd MacFarlane is prepared to negotiate on virtually everything as it pertains to the new Spawn, but all three of his demands must be met in order for this movie to move forward. Here they are in bullet-point form, just in case any of the above was unclear:
- Must be Rated R (no debate)
- Story less important than Spawn being "cool and badass"
- Todd MacFarlane must direct
Seems like a fair deal to us! Obviously you'd want the film to be Rated R if you want to make 10-year-olds cry with it, and obviously things like "plot" and "story" and "thematics" would take a backseat to ensuring that Spawn himself is both cool and badass (not one or the either, mind you - both). Rolling the dice on allowing MacFarlane to direct is, granted, a more dangerous proposition, but if the buy-in's low enough, what's the worst that could happen*?
We say, give Todd MacFarlane what he wants. Let this man direct his Spawn movie, so that we might all look upon it to see if it is Good. We say this not only because we support Todd MacFarlane's journey to getting this passion project made, but also because we are tired of writing posts like the one you've just read. Seriously, it's been years. Let's make a decision on this thing, one way or another.
* = Answer: Frank Miller's The Spirit