We’ve been waiting for Todd McFarlane’s Spawn for quite a while now, with absolutely no signs that it’s approaching production. The comic creator’s dream project has been in development for years, but despite having assembled a great cast and talented crew, studios have been reluctant to sign up. This hesitation is apparently down to McFarlane insisting that he occupies the director’s chair, making the pic his debut feature.
That’s given executives cold feet and they don’t appear to have been convinced by his plan to minimize his inexperience by surrounding himself with “quality people.” But McFarlane will not give up, regularly offering optimistic interviews where he promises that big news is right around the corner.
Now, the star of the 1997 Spawn, Michael Jai White, has revealed some of what the creator has in mind. In an interview with CBR, he was asked if he’d heard anything about the movie and said:
“[McFarlane has] been trying to get a new movie up and going for 23 years so I don’t know. [Laughs] The last time I saw him, he was telling me about his idea of Spawn being ethereal fog that you don’t see, like Jaws, and he strikes and you never see him and I’m like ‘Okay, good luck with that!’ Personally, I wish him well, that would be a major investment.”
I’ve gotta be honest, it doesn’t sound like White has a lot of confidence that McFarlane’s Spawn is going to get made anytime soon, but we’ll see. I’d certainly feel a bit short-changed if the character was reduced to what basically sounds like a mysterious cloud, though. I mean, they tried that with Galactus in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and it didn’t work there. Plus, Spawn’s design remains iconic and it just wouldn’t be right not to have that giant red cape billowing around him.
Fortunately, Jason Blum sounds like he’s still on board and there’s some positive buzz about a new animated show on HBO. But until we hear concrete news and an actual announcement for the Spawn movie, I’m refusing to get excited for fear of being disappointed if the film doesn’t happen.
