Todd McFarlane‘s Spawn movie is getting a new writing team including some comic book movie writing veterans.
Scott Silver, Malcolm Spellman and up-and-coming writer Matt Mixon will team-up to pen the screenplay for Blumhouse’s Spawn movie. Additionally, Jamie Foxx is still connected as the anti-hero star of the film. It is also rumored Jeremy Renner is attached to the film as the police officer Twitch.
McFarlane had originally planned to direct his creation on-screen, but has since changed his stance. “If we’ve got an A-list actor, A-list producers, A-list writers, then do you want to shoot for A-list directors, A-list cinematographers?” McFarlane said. “The answer is, ‘of course.’ Let’s keep the momentum going.”
Spellman mentioned that Spawn has always had a special place in his heart and working on the Spawn movie is amazing. “I grew up in Berkeley, which is a comic book city. Todd McFarlane’s Spawn character was always one of my favorites — a Black superhero that was no bullshit, he was cool and dealt with modern issues,” said Spellman. “Myself, Matt Mixon, and Scott Silver are pledged to honoring what Todd started and what Spawn is at its core, delivering something that’s relevant and edgy and unlike any other superhero movie out there.”
Silver is also be co-writing Joker: Folie à Deux due out in 2024. The screenwriter has a list of successful films that include Joker, The Fighter, and 8-Mile. He was responsible for some uncredited rewrites on X-Men Origins: Wolverine as well. Spellman has a slightly short resume of screenwriting, but has written for Empire, Bel-Air, as well as The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Mixon has written and directed a few short films released in 2016 and 2019 according to his IMDb page.
The Spawn movie will be loosely based on the 1992 comic book creation from McFarlane at Image Comics. Spawn first appeared in Spawn #1 (May 1992) and has over 333 on-going story issue to it’s name, not including spin-offs and one-shots. Spawn is the longest running independent comic book of all-time, passing the record with it’s 300th issue.
In 1997 New Line Cinema released the first live-action Spawn movie directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé. The film starred Michael Jai White in the title role, alongside John Leguizamo, Martin Sheen, Theresa Randle, D. B. Sweeney, and Nicol Williamson. The film was a box office success, but not so much with the critics and fans.
McFarlane hopes to redeem himself with the upcoming release of a new Spawn movie and now has a star-studded writing team and lead role to help make that happen.
