Tony SCOTT TAKES ON MILLARS NEMESIS

It had to happen sooner or later, one of the Scott brothers gets on the comic book movie bandwagon. Interestingly Tony Scott is rumoured to be in the running to direct the Wolverine sequel, whether this puts pay to that possibility is unknown. TOLDJA! got the lowdown.

20^th Century Fox has acquired screen rights to the Mark Millar/Steven McNiven  graphic novel Nemesis. Tony Scott is attached to direct and Scott Free will produce.

The graphic novel was written by Millar, whose Wanted and Kick-Ass creations were turned into films, and whose Marvel Comics titles include the revamped X-Men, the Avengers series The Ultimates, and Civil War, the latter of which is DC Comics Superman: Red Son. Nemesis was published in March by Marvel’s Icon Comics imprint. McNiven is the artist behind Civil War and other collaborations with Millar.

Nemesis focuses on Matt Anderson, a billionaire genius who’s the world’s greatest fighter. bent on avenging the death of his beloved parents. The twist is, they were villains and he is also a bad guy, a costumed vigilante who travels the world, picking off top cops. He returns to D.C. to launch a campaign of terror against Blake Morrow, the police chief who captured the caped vigilante’s parents.

Scott Free will set a writer and work on the adaptation. Deal comes as Scott preps the release of the Denzel Washington-Chris Pine drama Unstoppable. He is deciding on his next project, between Potzdamer Platz, Hell’s Angels and The Associate. Mickey Rourke is attached to both Potzdamer Platz and Hell’s Angels, while Shia LaBeouf is attached to The Associate and is the choice to join Rourke in Hell’s Angels. The property was repped by CAA and  Harris Miller.

Basically the premise is "What if Batman was evil" and it sounds/looks awesome in my view, however I have mixed feelings over Millars mature work, I found "Wanted" a soulless and repugnant book but enjoyed the movie, and while I never read "Kick Ass" I thought the movie was excellent.

I am a fan of Tony Scott and the project seems right up his alley, however looking at the synopsis I think it will be important that the Blake Morrow character is equally as strong as the Nemesis. My interest is certainly piqued and I'll be following the progress of this and picking up the Nemesis trade in September.