The ratio of truth to… exagerrated truth with Mark Millar doesn't give the kind of odds you'd want to put any kind of significant money on. But every now and then he's right, and he's at least entertaining to a certain degree, but as always, take this with a grain of salt with a side order of skepticism.
Logging onto his forums over on Millarworld, the comic writer updated fans on the status of the long-developing "Nemesis," and he claims that Joe Carnahan is going to direct and hints that Liam Neeson will star. "Shot straight from a wedding in Manchester last week to the City of Angels and plunged straight into some studio biz on the 'Nemesis' movie. Mighty Joe Carnahan is directing (from a script by he and his brother Matthew), but this much you already know," he said. "Fox wanted us to get in the same room for the first time and really hash this out, which was exciting. Joe has a really brilliant take on this and Matt and he are going to take things from here so I'm really happy. Absolutely no casting has been done formally although you can google the MTV interview from last January where he and Sir Liam Neeson are chatting about it. More news as it happens."
So what does this all prove? Millar, Carnahan and Fox had a meeting. Everything else is a bit of conjecturing. Yes, Carnahan did say earlier in the year he'd want Liam Neeson to take the role of Blake Morrow if/when this movie happened (he also said he wanted him for the forever gestating "White Jazz"), but it's likely that things are a bit far off at the moment. However, it is curious to note that this meeting took place after/around the same time Fox let "Daredevil" return to Marvel, after passing on Carnahan's take on the character. Could "Nemesis" be the gritty replacement they're looking for?
It's certainly different. The comic starts from the conceit "What if Batman was the Joker?," and follows the titular supervillain, a genius billionaire who travels the world creating havoc for his own amusement, but sets his particular sights on Washington, DC cop Blake Morrow, who squares off against the twisted superhero. But then again, it's not a well-known property and in studio terms could be deemed a high-risk project, so it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Meanwhile, also brewing in the background is "The Secret Service," another Millar comic adaptation that Matthew Vaughn was taking a shine to last fall. But here, Millar is realistic, saying that: "It'll be eighteen months at least before we get into a Secret Service movie since X-Men 2 is such a huge commitment for Matthew." So keep your pants on kids. [via ComicBookMovie]
