Filmmaker Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) talks with The Los Angeles Times about wading into comic books with Guy Ritchie’s Gamekeeper, from Virgin Comics:
One thing that has increasing currency in pop culture today is comics. Ritchie is not the only one noticing. Novelist Stephen King, BET President Reginald Hudlin, Clerks director Kevin Smith, Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame and bestselling author Brad Meltzer are just some of the recent creative minds to experiment with stories in the comics sector.
Some of these projects have comics fans wondering how much the famous name is really involved beyond lending his celebrity. Ritchie said that in his case, the collaboration with writer Andy Diggle and artist Mukesh Singh has been much like his work in the past with screenwriters, cinematographers and others who help realize the final vision of a film.
The big difference between the two mediums?
“After making films, comics are dramatically speedy and extremely pleasant,” said Ritchie, whose recent films have not been as well-received as his 1998 breakthrough with Lock, Stock … and its follow-up, Snatch, in 2000. Swept Away, his 2002 project with his wife, was especially skewered by critics.
Issue 2 was released last week.
