The synopsis of the movie version of Mark Millar’s Wanted has been released, and… well, has some differences from the original:
After the murder of a father he never knew, Wes discovers powers beyond his dreams. He becomes the latest recruit in the Fraternity–a secret society of assassins–and develops lightning-quick reflexes with superhuman agility. Wes soon learns his league of henchmen has but one mission: carry out the death orders of the mythological Fates, weavers of every man’s lifeline.
With wickedly brilliant tutors, he morphs into a killing machine and starts erasing one bad guy after another. But as Wes grows into the mantle passed down by his father…he discovers his clan members are not exactly the enforcers of justice they claim to be. Just as he gets everything he ever Wanted, Wesley Gibson will learn that with the ability to deliver death comes an even more difficult power…controlling your own life.
Millar is philosophical about the whole thing:
The Mythological Fates bit worries me. But I also have huge confidence in the director and all the casting (some of which you haven’t heard yet) has been spectacular. So fingers crossed this is as good as it looks.
One thing you WON’T see me doing is bitching. JG and I own this and had the right to keep it from ever being a movie, but we decided to take the plunge and hope for the best. They paid us well and we can only hope they do a good job. Like I said, I’m hopeful. Even if it’s nothing like the book in the end (I have no idea), The Shining was nothing like the book and was still great. I wish them nothing but the best.
So for those of you keeping track at home: Bitching about Bryan Singer directing the next Superman movie, fine. Bitching about a movie where you’re an executive producer and wrote the source material, not the done thing. Because they give you money. Or something.
November 3rd, 2006 at 3:06 pm
So instead of just being a bad guy, Wesley is a good guy who’s been tricked into being a bad guy? Why even bother purchasing the rights if you’re going to completely invert the whole point of the story?
November 3rd, 2006 at 3:25 pm
“Bitching about a movie where you’re an executive producer and wrote the source material, not the done thing. Because they give you money. Or something.”
LOL! Yeah, the little Scot’s a hard one to pin down on stuff like this, isn’t he?
November 3rd, 2006 at 3:26 pm
“Why even bother purchasing the rights if you’re going to completely invert the whole point of the story?”
That’s straight out of the Hollywood 101 playbook.
It’s what they do.
November 3rd, 2006 at 3:51 pm
“The Shining was nothing like the book and was still great.”
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was nothing like the comic and it was one of the worst movies ever made.
November 3rd, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Sooo tired of the “Bitching about whatever Mark Millar says on his blog.”
November 3rd, 2006 at 5:21 pm
“Sooo tired of the “Bitching about whatever Mark Millar says on his blog.”
I think it’s done to balance out all of the abject worship of whatever Mark Millar says over on his blog (by his faithful acolytes). It’s a ying and yang kind of thing.
November 3rd, 2006 at 5:27 pm
“LOL! Yeah, the little Scot’s a hard one to pin down on stuff like this, isn’t he?”
*points ->* “Because they give you money.”
Sounds perfectly clear to me.
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:59 pm
“Sooo tired of the “Bitching about whatever Mark Millar says on his blog.”
I second that emotion.
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:26 pm
Whats with you posting every little thing you have a problem with on MillarWorld??
Its getting more than a little bitter.
Seriously, find some “real” material. If you don’t have anything nice to post, don’t post anything at all…
Or maybe just start your own blog, Graeme, where you just rip into Millar.
You seem to do it enough to warrant it. So far this week, you’ve ripped into Millar on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Hows about we calm down a little?
November 4th, 2006 at 12:16 am
Um. Do you think Byrne Board will get jealous that you’re hurting the wittle feelings at Millarworld, Graeme, and seemingly ignoring them?
Millar-defenders–I’m fairly certain Millar’s thick skinned enough to not really give a rat’s ass what Graeme posts. In fact, if I were as attention grabbing as Millar has always proved himself to be, he’d be glad to have the attention if he has any reaction at all.
By the way, Millar-defenders, when a person posts something on the Internet, I think they enter the process fairly well expecting (if not hoping) for people to react. In other words, get worried when Graeme stops posting about Millar, now that I think about it.
Oh Christ, now I sound like a Graeme defender. To stay fair and balanced, Graeme you suck.
November 4th, 2006 at 10:56 am
Millar’s offically a sell-out…
November 4th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
“So far this week, you’ve ripped into Millar on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.”
It must be National Rip On Millar Week.
November 4th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
I met Mark Millar at the Chicago convention 2 or 3 (or was it 4?) summers ago. I talked to him very briefly, and was in the same room with him for nearly an hour. I thought he was a polite and intelligent person, and I never saw him being rude or acting foolish in any way. So I don’t understand how he gets involved in so much controversy.
Old joke:
A woman at a party discovers that the older man across the room is a millionaire.
Suddenly, she is all over him and continues so for the rest of the evening.
At the end of the evening, the millionaire asks her if she will go home with him for $5000.
She says: “Why, Sir, what kind of girl do you think I am?”
He replies: “Well, I think we both know the answer to that. Now we’re just dickering about the price.”
So Millar bitches about Bryan Singer (in specific, directors in general) and that the Superman movie might be ruined, but just goes with the flow in reference to his own property. The only obvious difference in his case may be that he already has his money.
—————
In partial defense of Millar, he does live in a different country. His attitudes may be similar to those of us in the United States, but his expression of those attitudes may be in a different manner. My parents came from Canada. Family get togethers in Canada were really strange to me when I was a child. Once I adapted my attitude to accept that my uncles were different, yet much the same, the get togethers went much smoother.
Same heritage, same language, different culture.
—————
Further to that Graeme has commented on Millar 3 times this week—
This is Blog@Newsarama, therefore it is an opinion place. As long as creators make news or comments, Graeme can comment on those as much as he wants. The only place where Graeme should keep his opinions under the radar is if he is writing a news article.
November 5th, 2006 at 12:49 am
So… You all know Graeme used to run Fanboy Rampage right? http://fanboyrampage.blogspot.com/ It’s kinda infamous. And if you think he’s quoting Millar a lot NOW… This is him doing a light brush over.
This is what Graeme does, he posts the crazy things going on in the industry so people can observe and mock it all incessently. That’s why he’s on the blog here now. He can’t help it if John Byrne hasn’t said anything lately and Mark Millar is busy selling out his own stories and contradicting his own Superman Returns review. Don’t hate the player, hate the game!
November 6th, 2006 at 8:29 am
Millar’s a Scot so of course the money’s important.
In partial defense of Millar, he does live in a different country.
Speaking as an Englishman, I think it’s fairly clear what he’s saying here. Give me money and you can do what you want with my work.
Does it really matter? The movie might be nothing like the comic, but Wanted – the comic book series – will always be out there and won’t change.
And I liked the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie. I guess someone has to!