IESB.net talks with Ghost Rider director Mark Steven Johnson about, well, Ghost Rider, mostly. But given Wednesday’s news, talk turns briefly to HBO’s planned Preacher series, for which Johnson will write the pilot and serve as an executive producer:
Johnson: Preacher I have always wanted to do. Preacher is like, you know, it’s the greatest but it’s so difficult. And I love it more than anybody and I remember reading a script a while ago it was gonna go to film and I was like, oh, how do you make a two-hour movie from Preacher? You can’t do it. So, when I went into HBO I said very simply, here’s the comic, there’s seventy-five issues plus the four-issue Saint of Killers, every issue in an hour. It’s a six-year show. And HBO, God bless them, went, cool!
IESB: So are you staying pretty loyal to the whole storyline?
Johnson: No, not loyal, exact. So it’s like, we had our first meeting the other day, I kept waiting for them to go, we’re not doing this! (laughing) It’s like, I want Odin Quincannon having sex with a meat person. (laughing) If I can do that, I’ve made my mark on the world. Everything is just like so out there, this is it. They’re like, fuckin’ HBO’s got balls, they were like, yeah bring it! Do it! ….
Johnson goes on to say that he’d like to have guest directors, such as Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez. “I want it to be a prestige thing, you love Preacher? Come do a show,” he says. “Usually it’s a guest actor, I want it to be guest director.”
Related: Download Preacher #1
December 1st, 2006 at 10:14 am
I love the idea of sharing the wealth to other fan boys in a position to do it justice.
Hope it all works out.
December 1st, 2006 at 10:24 am
Johnson sounds like a high school kid who somehow found a director’s chair and can’t wait to turn his fanboy dreams into celluloid.
Then again, I have never understood the need to turn a perfectly fine comic into something else.
But I’m happy for Ennis. The extra money will help make him a more independent writer.
December 1st, 2006 at 10:44 am
mark will kill on this…he gets the propertywhich is something I wish other people would try harder to do.
Having steve and garh involved helps as well. this is the most exciting thing I have heard in a while for t.v. other than the painkiller jane series for sci fi…but thats just natural, right? o.k., this is the second most exciting news at my house! that works.
CANT wait till this gets rolling. guest directors eh? hmmmmm
Jimmy Palmiotti
December 1st, 2006 at 11:27 am
The weird thing is–precisely the talk about making it such an exact copy of the comic worries me.
Every 22-page issue a one-hour episode? I can’t really see that work.
But I don’t want to be negative–I’m dying to see this. And, hey, I actually liked large parts of Daredevil, so I already have a more postive outlook on this than most.
December 1st, 2006 at 11:59 am
Was that an interview with the director or his 13 year old daughter?
December 1st, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Casting ideas anyone? Some casting ideas I agree with or thought of are:(including dream hollywood choices or TV actors that will probably never be considered and older and younger people depending how they are casting) :
Jesse - Nathan Filion is a good choice, what about Jason Patric, Guy Pierce, Matthew Mcconaughey?
Tulip - Natasha Henstridge, Melissa George, Naomi Watts, Elisha Cuthbert,Maggie Grace & 10 yrs ago Patricia Arquette would have been PERFECT for this (just watch True Romance)
Cassidy - Ewen Mcgregor, Colin Farrell, James Marsters, Stephen Dorff, Robert Carlyle
Saint of Killers - Clint Eastwood, Tom Berrenger, Tommy Lee Jones, Clancy Brown, Jamey Sheridan
Starr - Ed Harris, John Malkovich, Billy Zane
December 1st, 2006 at 1:29 pm
can’t wait to spend 600 on the dvds.
December 1st, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Oh snap! This sounds sweet as hell!
December 1st, 2006 at 3:51 pm
“how do you make a two-hour movie from Preacher? You can’t do it. So, when I went into HBO I said very simply, here’s the comic, there’s seventy-five issues plus the four-issue Saint of Killers, every issue in an hour. It’s a six-year show.”
A lot of fans, including myself, will be very pleased by that but I have to disagree. A two hour movie could be done. It would be better with 3 hours and it still wouldn’t capture all the glory of Preacher but it could be done.
December 1st, 2006 at 3:53 pm
“CANT wait till this gets rolling. guest directors eh? hmmmmm
Jimmy Palmiotti ”
Thinking about your directorial debut, eh?
December 1st, 2006 at 6:27 pm
We could do without adaptations and worse adaptations by the director of Daredevil no less.
December 1st, 2006 at 7:59 pm
“Then again, I have never understood the need to turn a perfectly fine comic into something else.”
Or books into movies? Or plays into movies?
December 2nd, 2006 at 11:23 am
directing an episode of painkiller jane , so working my way there kolimar…lol.
December 2nd, 2006 at 10:42 pm
I was excited as hell about this. Then when I saw the name Mark Steven Johnson I immediately thought about how disappointed I was with “Daredevil” and “Elektra”. however, if Jimmy Palmiotti says “Mark will kill on this”, that’s good enough for me. Knowing that Steve and Garth will be involved helps as well.
As for “Then again, I have never understood the need to turn a perfectly fine comic into something else”, mckracken, let me say I cannot understand why fans like yourself are so afraid of letting this industry grow and share it’s stories with others, regardless of medium.
December 3rd, 2006 at 3:04 pm
am i alone in thinking that willem defoe would be an excellent cassidy? and i like the idea of jared leto as custer. patricia arquette, circa true romance, would have been a good tulip not sure about who could do it now.
December 3rd, 2006 at 9:29 pm
He wants to make each issue an hour… yet isn’t staying loyal?
What?!?
How un-loyal are we talking about here?
What changes does he deem necessary to make this “work”?
December 4th, 2006 at 12:03 am
When he said he wasn’t ’staying loyal’ I believe he was saying that ‘loyal’ just keeps to the general idea (ie WANTED sounds like it won’t even be loyal - but X-Men etc were) - He followed by saying it would be exact (ie Sin City) - That my friends, makes my mouth water. Preacher has always been one of my intro books to friends that are not into comics - Others being Walking Dead, Wanted, Ultimates, Watchmen, Battlepope, and Girls - After crying in my beer for a few weeks after hearing what a travesty Wanted sounds like it will be on the screen - having a director say he is making it ‘Exactly like the book’ gives me hope for the future of the crossover to Hollywood. Please stay true Mr Johnson.
Also gives me a reason to keep HBO
James