View Full Version : Mark Steven Johnson Talks about 'Preacher' series for HBO - Fred shudders
NOTE: There may be a thread for this. I thought there was but I can't find it. Please combine if so.
Anyway, Mark Steven Johnson is a man whose resume should give every comic fan douche-chills. He's responsible for such classics as Daredevil and Ghost Rider. Well, now he's working with Garth Ennis on Preacher for HBO. While this could be cool, there are troubling things I've found in this interview (http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=2148) with him about it.
iF: So will be seeing the same stories from the comic book in the series?
MSJ: Well there would be nothing new to add if we did that so [PREACHER creator] Garth [Ennis] and I have been creating new stories for the series. I love the book so much and I was telling Garth that he has to make the stories we are coming up with as comics because I want to see them.
yes, that's right kids - new content from ennis and a man whose idea of good was Ghost Rider.
One of the things that I love about the cast of LOST is that virtually all of them are unknowns and because no one had seen them before, there wasn’t a typecast baggage to go along with them. I am hoping to do the same thing with PREACHER.
Have any of you ever seen the Lord of the Rings triology? I'm pretty sure that Charlie was in well ALL of them. Ever seen Party of Five? Jack was on that show for what? 6 years. I guess that he never saw Locke on a little show called Alias.
anyway, check it out. form your own opinions. whatever. I really hope that they don't **** this up.
conorkilpatrick
06-20-2007, 04:42 PM
Have any of you ever seen the Lord of the Rings triology? I'm pretty sure that Charlie was in well ALL of them. Ever seen Party of Five? Jack was on that show for what? 6 years. I guess that he never saw Locke on a little show called Alias.
I dunno, that cast was still overwhelmingly relatively "unknown", i.e. there weren't really any household names in it.
because no one had seen them before, there wasn’t a typecast baggage to go along with them.
I was 15 episodes in before I stopped making Charlie's an elf jokes
edit: and btw that was in response to a question about some woman from BSG who could play Tulip. Don't get me wrong, BSG is a big deal AROUND HERE, but nobody watches it. It's way less watched than Party of 5 or The Lord of the Rings.
paper
06-20-2007, 04:53 PM
UMMMM.....He was technically a hobbit.....
I think, in general, they were relative unknowns outside the geek community. I knew who Terry O'Quinn was, but I couldn't have told you his name. He was just the dude from Alias and West Wing.
UMMMM.....He was technically a hobbit.....
I think, in general, they were relative unknowns outside the geek community. I knew who Terry O'Quinn was, but I couldn't have told you his name. He was just the dude from Alias and West Wing.
was he a hobbit? eh whatever. that's not the point though. while it was a 'geek' franchise, it did crazy box office all over the world.
conorkilpatrick
06-20-2007, 04:56 PM
I was 15 episodes in before I stopped making Charlie's an elf jokes
edit: and btw that was in response to a question about some woman from BSG who could play Tulip. Don't get me wrong, BSG is a big deal AROUND HERE, but nobody watches it. It's way less watched than Party of 5 or The Lord of the Rings.
I couldn't have told you Matthew Fox's name before Lost. He definitely wasn't a household name. The "biggest star" was definitely Dominic Monaghan but no one knew his name.
I couldn't have told you Matthew Fox's name before Lost. He definitely wasn't a household name. The "biggest star" was definitely Dominic Monaghan but no one knew his name.
I agree but they both did have visual (at least) baggage. It's kind of silly to say that someone from BSG is too big and too known and use that as your point of comparison.
paper
06-20-2007, 04:59 PM
Where did BSG come up?
Nevermind. Found it. I agree with that part.
in the interview (http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=2148)
edit: you found it
mikegraham6
06-20-2007, 05:19 PM
when i heard HBO was developing this i almost shit my pants i was so excited, when i heard Johnson was attached my excitment quickly dwindled. i'll watch it but now my expectations are significantly lower
I'm definitely going to check it out too. I'm just a bit worried. Especially with the "new stories" angle.
conorkilpatrick
06-20-2007, 05:25 PM
It's kind of silly to say that someone from BSG is too big and too known and use that as your point of comparison.
I definitely agree with that.
it's crazy. it's on sci-fi for chrissakes. most people don't even know that they have the channel.
paper
06-20-2007, 05:27 PM
So the original book is good?
So the original book is good?
It's outstanding. I don't take a lot of things personally. Somebody ****s up Daredevil or Ghost Rider and I say eh whatever. If he ****s this up, I may not ever watch anything that he does again.
I love Preacher.
paper
06-20-2007, 05:34 PM
I feel like if the Daredevil movie (the one that we ended up with) was released now, at the point where I'm actually a big fan of the book, I would have been pissed. At the time I didn't mind so much.
I'm definitely a much bigger fan of DD now too, but if you think about it - DD has been done badly in the book already too. Preacher remains pristine (until they add new shitty stories).
davegraham
06-20-2007, 05:43 PM
I have been burning through the trades for the past month. While I was enjoying Preacher, I wasn't loving it. I didn't expect the supernatural elements to be so overt and I think that threw me. While I was enjoying it I didn't love it. Then something about the seventh trade turned me around. The sheriff arc made me a Preacher fan. Has Garth Ennis ever wrote any classic Western stories? I would be very interested in that.
he's currently writing Ghost Rider Trail of Tears which is the horse-riding Ghost Rider. so there's that.
I don't think he's done a straight up western.
benjy77
06-20-2007, 05:47 PM
It's outstanding. I don't take a lot of things personally. Somebody ****s up Daredevil or Ghost Rider and I say eh whatever. If he ****s this up, I may not ever watch anything that he does again.
I love Preacher.
Come on Fred. This guy has given us such great films as Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, Jack Frost, and the Rick Moranis / Tom Arnold classic Big Bully.
Grumpy Old Men is legit. All others I pass on.
benjy77
06-20-2007, 05:54 PM
he's currently writing Ghost Rider Trail of Tears which is the horse-riding Ghost Rider. so there's that.
The Saint of Killers mini series is one by favorite parts of the preacher story. I think the Ghost Rider western will be very good.
mikegraham6
06-20-2007, 05:59 PM
It's outstanding. I don't take a lot of things personally. Somebody ****s up Daredevil or Ghost Rider and I say eh whatever. If he ****s this up, I may not ever watch anything that he does again.
I love Preacher.
im behind you one this 100%, no one f*cks up Preacher. same with Watchmen, I hold them in such high regard that i dont think i could handle a crappy version of either of these books
The Saint of Killers mini series is one by favorite parts of the preacher story. I think the Ghost Rider western will be very good.
The Saint of Killers story is good. I like that. I've read the first few issues of Trail of Tears and it's pretty good.
senoj1
06-20-2007, 07:15 PM
Grumpy Old Men is legit. All others I pass on.
Agreed that was pretty funny.
How did this guy even get this gig?
you should give her the bony macaroni
3 of the funniest guys ever - matthau, lemon, and meredith
"I've laid more pipe in this town thatn Wabashaw plumbing"
davegraham
06-25-2007, 04:44 PM
I finished the last two Preacher trades over the weekend. They were great. I liked some parts more than other parts. I definitely recommend the series for anyone into the fantasy and western genres. That isn't saying much about it, but it really is good.
Has a sequel ever been suggested or talked about? At the end, it seems like there is plenty of material left on the board for another story. Has Garth Ennis ever talked about plans for a sequel and what do you fans think?
I would be interested in reading about how that world moves forward with how things are left in place at the end. Not necessarily with the entire Preacher cast. It could be an entirely new cast, as long as it deals with the state of things at the end of Preacher.
darron
07-02-2007, 06:40 AM
How did this guy even get this gig?
See, in Hollywood, people fail upwards.
Has a sequel ever been suggested or talked about? At the end, it seems like there is plenty of material left on the board for another story. Has Garth Ennis ever talked about plans for a sequel and what do you fans think?
I don't know, but if it were to ever happen, and both Ennis and Dillon were doing it (along with the truly amazing Fabry covers), I'd buy 60 issues of it, even if it were shit. I really ****ing love Preacher.
sullivan85
09-10-2007, 09:15 PM
Great Grandmother's Spatula! I watched Ghost Rider over the weekend. THIS is the guy making Preacher???? I felt shame for having contributed to Ghost Rider's inexplicable success. I am officially hesitant about this possible HBO series...
jo11ypenguin
09-12-2007, 12:47 AM
This news worries me. I recently finished Preacher and I loved it. The Ghost Rider movie being mentioned in the same sentence as a Preacher project sends up a red flag to me.
conorkilpatrick
08-25-2008, 07:03 AM
This is why I don't freak out about stuff until the cameras actually roll.
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: NO PREACHER ON HBO (http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0808/25/index.htm)
Mark Steven Johnson, who brought Daredevil and Ghost Rider to the big screen, told The Continuum that his attempts to bring Garth Ennis' Preacher to HBO as a series were close but ultimately unsuccessful.
"We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going," Johnson told The Continuum. "But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point!
"It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO.
"I've heard someone is in the process of getting the rights to turn it into a feature film. I hope that happens. But I hope it happens as a series of movies as one movie couldn't do it justice. I really love that story and I dedicated a lot of my time to honor Garth's work. But it wasn't meant to be."
humphrey-lee
08-25-2008, 07:10 AM
This is why I don't freak out about stuff until the cameras actually roll.
MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: NO PREACHER ON HBO (http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0808/25/index.htm)
Mark Steven Johnson, who brought Daredevil and Ghost Rider to the big screen, told The Continuum that his attempts to bring Garth Ennis' Preacher to HBO as a series were close but ultimately unsuccessful.
"We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going," Johnson told The Continuum. "But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point!
"It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO.
"I've heard someone is in the process of getting the rights to turn it into a feature film. I hope that happens. But I hope it happens as a series of movies as one movie couldn't do it justice. I really love that story and I dedicated a lot of my time to honor Garth's work. But it wasn't meant to be."
Heh. Does anyone else find it ironic that the Warner Bros peeps came out and said they want to make more properties into movies, and make them as dark as they think they can, and yet HBO, home of shows like Sopranos and Six Feet Under and Oz comes out and says that a prime piece of comic book property is "too dark"? Seriously, I almost choked on my HAH! when I just read that...
conorkilpatrick
08-25-2008, 07:23 AM
Heh. Does anyone else find it ironic that the Warner Bros peeps came out and said they want to make more properties into movies, and make them as dark as they think they can, and yet HBO, home of shows like Sopranos and Six Feet Under and Oz comes out and says that a prime piece of comic book property is "too dark"? Seriously, I almost choked on my HAH! when I just read that...
I remember when HBO had balls...
esophagus
08-25-2008, 07:51 AM
Maybe Mark Steven Johnson is just trying to hide the fact that it isn't being made because they don't want it done by Mark Steven Johnson.
oh_caroline
08-25-2008, 12:59 PM
Maybe Mark Steven Johnson is just trying to hide the fact that it isn't being made because they don't want it done by Mark Steven Johnson.
Yeah, I find the source of that quote kind of dubious. He's not going to say, "They wouldn't make it because we showed them some scripts that sucked and we couldn't get the right tier of actor to commit." He's going to say, "They wouldn't make it because it's too edgy."
That said, I'm not sure what HBO has going for them at the moment. Maybe they wouldn't greenlight 'The Sopranos' now; it's hard to say.
jimski
08-25-2008, 03:53 PM
Is this the same HBO that read the first draft of "Six Feet Under" and said, "This isn't f***ed up enough for HBO"? Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
oh_caroline
08-25-2008, 05:30 PM
I'm remembering now -- wasn't James Marsden attached to this project at some point?
That's an interesting career path: "The super-edgy adult comic book adaptation didn't work out. I guess I'll go make musicals!"
deadspace
08-25-2008, 05:58 PM
Have any of you ever seen the Lord of the Rings triology? I'm pretty sure that Charlie was in well ALL of them. Ever seen Party of Five? Jack was on that show for what? 6 years. I guess that he never saw Locke on a little show called Alias.
Hmm, I think he was spot on about the Lost characters. The only one that really stood out for me was Matthew Fox because I was a big Party of Five fan when I was a kid but that was so long ago it wasn't a problem. I've seen the LOTR trilogy but didn't feel Dominic was typecast as a hobbit! lol
Locke I'd never seen before.
Ben was familiar because he was in the 1st Saw movie. And Charles Widmore is obviously Jim Robinson to anyone my age.
But in general they were all pretty unknown and certainly not typecast. Kate had never even had a speaking role before :o
neuropolis
08-25-2008, 11:28 PM
Dubious choice of talent aside, I was looking forward to this series.
I figured after not hearing anything for a year, it wasn't going to happen. So I guess at least I can close the book on that.
Maybe it's better I don't have to deal with the stress. Preacher's nine books long so unless this was a monster hit, it would never reach the end. I would just be counting down the days to cancellation.
Still... you can't do Preacher as a movie. If anything ever does happen, it should be a series.
esophagus
08-26-2008, 12:16 AM
I think they should just leave Preacher be, personally.
horatio616
08-26-2008, 01:08 AM
I love Mark Steven Johnson's enthusiasm for his projects, but as for liking the projects, well...
If anyone can cheese up Preacher, it's this guy.
timmywood-
08-26-2008, 03:36 AM
I remember when I would hear about the shows that HBO greenlit and I would get excited just based on their concept. Now though it seems they don't know what they want to do.
johnvferrigno
08-26-2008, 10:20 AM
I haven't watched a show on HBO since Mr. Show. I watch Six Feet Under on DVD, but I see no reason to subscribe to this station anymore.
jaflanagan
08-27-2008, 01:43 AM
I was about to get rid of it, but then I started Watching Generation Kill. It's DAMN good. Now, I think I want to watch the rest of Entourage. And Sopranos wasn't so long ago, and every moment of the Wire was gold. Then there's John Adams. Finally, the new Alan Ball show about the vampires, True Blood looks great.
Let's not dogpile on the death of HBO yet.
That said, I never ever never thought this would actually get made.
oh_caroline
08-27-2008, 01:50 AM
I was about to get rid of it, but then I started Watching Generation Kill. It's DAMN good. Now, I think I want to watch the rest of Entourage. And Sopranos wasn't so long ago, and every moment of the Wire was gold. Then there's John Adams. Finally, the new Alan Ball show about the vampires, True Blood looks great.
Let's not dogpile on the death of HBO yet.
I've been very reluctant to care about a TV show since "The Wire" ended (and I haven't had HBO since I moved in the spring, so I'm not caught up on "Generation Kill" or "John Adams"; figure I'll wait on Netflix). That said, I'm very much anticipating next spring, watching Joss Whedon's new show get dicked around by FOX, and wondering why the hell he isn't making the jump to cable.
senoj1
08-27-2008, 07:32 AM
HBO's Preacher project dead.
Some of the best news i've heard this week.
jaflanagan
08-27-2008, 12:50 PM
I've been very reluctant to care about a TV show since "The Wire" ended (and I haven't had HBO since I moved in the spring, so I'm not caught up on "Generation Kill" or "John Adams"; figure I'll wait on Netflix). That said, I'm very much anticipating next spring, watching Joss Whedon's new show get dicked around by FOX, and wondering why the hell he isn't making the jump to cable.
The stuff that's great about the Wire is all right there in Generation Kill. Ed Burns and David Simon have done some fantastic writing.
Why not go to cable when you can be on a network? Money, budgets, and marketing. If it works, it's a much bigger payoff for everyone involved.
oh_caroline
08-27-2008, 02:30 PM
The stuff that's great about the Wire is all right there in Generation Kill. Ed Burns and David Simon have done some fantastic writing.
Why not go to cable when you can be on a network? Money, budgets, and marketing. If it works, it's a much bigger payoff for everyone involved.
Point taken. I guess I'm used to creators bitching about network interference and wondering why they put up with it when there are other options. But I suppose FOX money can pay for a lot of musicals that you make with your buddies and post on the Internet.
I will give any series that HBO puts on a shot they've had some of the greatest television series of all time. I think I've seen all of them aside from Carnivale (and recently John Adams and Generation Kill) and aside from Sex and the City (which I only "liked") I LOVED every single show.
Deadwood, Oz, Sopranos, the Wire, Entourage, Rome, Six Feet Under, Flight of the Conchords, Lucky Louie, Mr. Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, In Treatment and that's just off the top of my head.
optimus187prime
08-27-2008, 03:00 PM
Finally, the new Alan Ball show about the vampires, True Blood looks great.
Let's not dogpile on the death of HBO yet.
That said, I never ever never thought this would actually get made.
The trailer has got me excited to see True Blood, I just hope it is of the same quality we have come to expect from HBO.
bonemachine
08-27-2008, 04:28 PM
Shit! You mean they're actually going ahead with it? I heard it was stuck in deveolment hell. If it wasn't for Ennis's involvement I'd have no hopes for this.
Actually the project has been canned., this thread just got bumped recently so the early posts are oooold news.
jaflanagan
08-27-2008, 07:45 PM
And Ennis was never involved. I talked with him about it waaaaay back in episode 24, and he didn't know nothing. Apropos I assume.
six-gun
08-27-2008, 08:06 PM
The stuff that's great about the Wire is all right there in Generation Kill. Ed Burns and David Simon have done some fantastic writing.
Generation Kill wasn't halfway as good as the book. HBO dropped the ball. And also, the stuff that I thought was good had nothing to do with Burns and Simon, the relationships of the soldiers and the toll that war took on them was recorded much, much more strikingly in Evan Wright's work. What we saw on the screen was good only because it was the watered down version of something that was FANTASTIC.
Real Talk.
jaflanagan
08-27-2008, 09:42 PM
Of course the book was better. The book is always better, but making a script work from a text piece is no mean feat, and I haven't read the book, so I can't speak to it.
That being said, from a production/direction standpoint, there was a great deal of outstanding work. The sound design alone, and the acting and casting were all laudable.
It was an adaptation. Don't forget what that word means.
I'd say Trainspotting and Fight Club were better movies than books, but it's close.
jaflanagan
08-27-2008, 10:00 PM
Not the norm though. You just can't make it the same. You can't put it all in.
There are better movies than books, or at least different enough so that people prefer one or the other. The two cited are good. There's also the Shining.
But mostly, especially when you're dealing with non-fiction, a novel will be better every time.
Provided you're a reader.
I would definitely agree, really I've had long discussions and time and again the only 3 that come up with any regularity are my 2 and the shining (which I haven't read so I can't compare).
Really it comes down to the quality of the adaptation, and 90% of the time they try to jam the book into a 2 hour movie instead of adapting the source material to suit the new medium.
jaflanagan
08-27-2008, 10:15 PM
The Shining is a great book, but the movie is a departure. They're doing different things.
I've heard "A History of Violence" is a better movie than comic book.
I'd like to read the Shining one day, right now I'm foolishly reading through all of the Dark Tower (including the 18 or so "connected" books) first.... I don't really know why.
I haven't got around to reading History of Violence yet.
zombox
08-27-2008, 11:59 PM
The Shining is a great book, but the movie is a departure. They're doing different things.
I've heard "A History of Violence" is a better movie than comic book.
I, personally, prefer Fight Club as a movie to the book. Palahniuk is in general agreeance, for what its worth. Though that may be because it made him rich as hell...
s1lentslayer
08-28-2008, 02:13 AM
A real-life Arseface:
http://flickr.com/photos/zollo/2460682776/
holden
06-28-2009, 04:38 AM
I've heard from some different sources that there is a possibility that Preacher will become an on-going series on HBO. Is this true?
jaflanagan
06-28-2009, 04:40 AM
Not anymore. That project went away. I wouldn't hold my breath for it.
holden
06-28-2009, 05:24 AM
GD. I was so looking forward to that!
jon_samuelson
06-28-2009, 07:00 AM
Honestly, I don't think it's the sort of thing to which justice could be done anyway. And if that's the case, fuck it, I'd rather read the comics than see an aborted version of it on TV.
comicbookchris
06-28-2009, 09:29 PM
Be glad that this project is dead. Do you REALLY want the guy who did the Daredevil and Ghost Rider movies to ruin such an amazing series. Because that is undoubtedly what he'd do.
johnferrigno
06-29-2009, 03:42 AM
Be glad that this project is dead. Do you REALLY want the guy who did the Daredevil and Ghost Rider movies to ruin such an amazing series. Because that is undoubtedly what he'd do.
I never saw Ghost Rider, because i don't like ghost Rider. But i actually liked daredevil. Especially the director's Cut version.