Todd McFarlane has been teasing his Spawn movie for years and despite assembling an impressive cast, it still hasn’t gotten close to shooting. He’s got Jamie Foxx set to play the title role, Jeremy Renner as his co-star, and has signed up one of the best practical visual effects guys in the business, The Walking Dead’s resident gorehound Greg Nicotero. Unfortunately, however, the only thing he hasn’t been able to get on board is a major studio and the project is still waiting to be greenlit. Many assumed this was because McFarlane was insisting on directing the film himself, but it seems the problems go as far as the script.
Horror YouTuber Mr. H claims to have a copy of the screenplay as it was in 2017, described as the second draft of the final version and coming in at 116 pages. Backing up his claim are some detailed descriptions of scenes and actual pictures of various pages, so it looks like a legit peek behind the scenes. But sadly, things don’t sound good, as he calls the production a “big mess,” while claiming that the script is “total garbage.”
We’ve known for a while that McFarlane’s tactic to keep the budget low is to treat Spawn as an ethereal, supernatural figure that mostly acts off the screen. But what works for the shark in Jaws doesn’t work for Spawn, with the iconic hero being depicted as wind, bugs, rats and mysterious shadows. In a real head-scratching development, his first appearance in the movie is apparently as some kind of possessed bed. All in all, the hellbound antihero would only be on screen for a maximum of 15 minutes, which is sure to disappoint fans.
There’s also some disquiet over the film’s relationship with the police. The murder of George Floyd has caused a shift in public perspective on the cops and Spawn may come across as outdated. With the hero relegated to more of a supernatural force than a character, the lead is Jeremy Renner’s cop Twitch and law enforcement is generally depicted positively. Though there is some anti-police sentiment in the script in the form of corruption, an important black superhero teaming up with the cops just won’t play well with a modern audience.
But beyond that, the pic is full of clunky dialogue and scenes that simply don’t sound particularly exciting. Mr. H concludes on a very pessimistic note, saying:
“This film is never getting made. And if it does get made from this script it’s garbage. Total garbage. Absolute crap.”
Yikes. Here’s hoping Spawn can turn it around.
