Nemesis (Tony Scott attached to direct)

[csdot]

surprised there isnt a thread for this already, and if there is and i missed it i apologize. but this is AWESOME news in my opinion.

Back in December, Mark Millar was talking up his new comic series, Nemesis, created with artist Steven McNiven. The concept is simple: what if a Bruce Wayne type became The Joker instead of Batman? Almost immediately there was discussion about a possible film. Some of that was discounted, because Millar talks up possible films rather often. He floated Guy Ritchie and Sam Raimi as possible Nemesis directors, for instance. But this one is moving forward, and possibly fast.

Furthermore, as if Tony Scott didn’t have enough projects on the fire (we just mentioned him being in talks to direct The Associate, and he’s got several other things going) the director is now attached to direct Nemesis.
Bleeding Cool reports and Deadline confirms, adding that Fox picked up the comic rights and Scott Free will produce. (Marvel is publishing Nemesis, but the rights remained with Millar and McNiven.)
The company has yet to put a writer on the project, so this won’t be Scott’s next film. That will be (probably) one of the three movies he’s been working with recently: Potsdamer Platz, Hell’s Angels or The Associate. Potsdamer Platz has Mickey Rourke, Javier Bardem and other actors attached, but has sounded like it was still in the rewrite stage.

Here’s what Millar had to say about Nemesis last year:

What if this genius billionaire was just this total shit, and the only thing that stood between him and a city was the cops? It’s Batman versus Commissioner Gordon, in a weird way. Or maybe a super-villain version of Se7en. A billionaire anarchist up against ordinary people. The Joker’s the best thing in the Batman movies, so this guy is a bit of an amalgamation of all the stuff we like.

Nemesis is the world’s smartest man, and the bad news for us is that he’s the world’s only super-villain. That means he’s got freeze guns and jump-jets and all these James Bond gadgets and he’s using them against us. To entertain himself, he picks a different cop every year and makes his life a misery. The book opens with him ****ing over Japan’s top cop, and then our story, the mini-series, takes place as he shifts his attention to Washington and his first American attacks.

source

i think his visual style will be perfect for this kind of movie. cant wait!!

[Foggy]

I would like to see this, though, I'm not to fond of the comics tagline

Makes Kick-Ass look like shit

[csdot]

hahaha i think its funny that Millar would say that about his own work.

[GreenScar]

So is it actually official or is this another in the long list of "attached" Tony Scott films?

[Neo_3]

Originally Posted by GreenScar

So is it actually official or is this another in the long list of "attached" Tony Scott films?

It's official, his next film after The Associate/Hell's Angels/Potsdamer Platz. I think his next film will be The Associate.

[GreenScar]

Originally Posted by Neo_3

It's official, his next film after The Associate/Hell's Angels/Potsdamer Platz. I think his next film will be The Associate.

Thanks Neo

[csdot]

i know a lot of people arent that familiar with the comic, but anyone have any picks for the role of Nemesis? curious to see what direction they go in with casting. i know this is probably years away from happening, but why not...

[Neo_3]

Originally Posted by csdot

i know a lot of people arent that familiar with the comic, but anyone have any picks for the role of Nemesis? curious to see what direction they go in with casting. i know this is probably years away from happening, but why not...

Welcome GreenScar. I think for the chief of police it could be Denzel Washinghton. Not sure for Anderson.

[Monolithium]

With Tony Scott directing, Denzel is as good as cast.

[Foggy]

Mark Millar on Nemesis

Source: Empire

It was announced over the weekend that Tony Scott would be directing a movie version of Mark Millar's latest ultra-violent comic book, Nemesis, about a supervillain who marks the world's top cop for a less-than-subtle demise.

So naturally we got Millar himself on the blower to tell us more about what's in store for a film that, following Wanted and Kick-Ass, has a lot to live up to. But with Scott, whose visual style has seemingly becoming more and more comic-booky over the years, at the helm, Millar is confident that it can match those expectations.

"Tony Scott is the ultimate comic book director who’s never made a comic book movie," says Millar. "For fifteen years people have been asking him to [make a comic book movie], but he’s turned it all down because the material never really excited him. The one thing you can’t say about Tony’s stuff is that it’s not family-friendly, safe fun. He’s never going to do a Fantastic Four or a Spider-Man. But the minute he saw something with Air Force One being taken down, the President being taken hostage and Japanese skyscrapers falling down, it began to look more like a Tony Scott movie."

Which, of course, is exactly what happens in the first two issues of Nemesis, with the white-clad uber-bastard causing all manner of devasting death and destruction in the pursuit of bringing his target down. Certainly, our initial reaction was that any movie version would have to tone down Millar and McNiven's vision of insanity. But Millar says that's far from the case. "You couldn’t do a movie like this any cheaper than $150 million," says Millar. "It's going to go really big."

Which means that it might need some big names to get those bums on seats, particularly with a rating that's sure to be the wrong side of R/15. And while nobody has been cast just yet, Millar has some big names on his wishlist. Some very big names.

"With Nemesis, you’ve got two great roles for two A-list stars," he says. "The thing is, one guy has to be as good as the other. You’ve got Holmes versus Moriarty here or Batman versus The Joker, so each one has got to be a $20 million actor, really. I think you could go for the A+ list and get Johnny Depp as Nemesis and Brad Pitt as Blake Morrow."

Say what you will about the Scot, but he doesn't lack ambition. And, if Scott does bag Depp, it'll bring Millar's long-term plan to fruition. "When I was writing the comic, I genuinely saw Johnny Depp as Nemesis," explains Millar. "He’s a thin-faced guy, slightly creepy, a cross between Heath Ledger and Christian Bale, and someone who could pull off both those things at the same time is Depp. He would get it. He goes slightly crazy in his roles!"

And Pitt for Morrow, the stoic super-cop who is revealed as Nemesis' ultimate target? "He's Commissioner Gordon meets Sherlock Holmes, so it’s got to be a big physical policeman who you feel could stand up for himself in a physical fight," says Millar. "It’s got to be somebody who can take a punch. You couldn’t really get anybody who’s too cerebral. He’d have to be a very physical actor so it would need to be a Pitt. Or maybe even a Liam Neeson."

One thing's for sure. The clock is ticking fast on Nemesis, with Scott already talking to a writer ("Probably one of the top three screenwriters in Hollywood right now"), with hopes of getting underway next year. "This is a timely thing and he wants to get a writer on this and get it going now," says Millar, who will serve as executive producer on the movie. "He doesn’t want it to be sitting on the shelf in two years."

Excited by this news? Can you see Depp and Pitt slugging it out on the big screen? Let us know, as ever, below...

[Walts Ghost]

Joe Carnahan Talks NEMESIS; Wants Liam Neeson For Blake Morrow

"I’ll say this, Mark and I are in discussions," the director told Collider of the current status of Nemesis in a recent interview while promoting his latest movie, The Grey. "I’ll say I’ve never lost interest in Nemesis. He and I both fell victim to a kind of executive breach of trust that took place that it’s not even worth commenting on. That was a classic example of "he said, he said." That’s an ongoing development."

Brad Pitt was initially rumoured as a possible Blake Morrow (the police detective who faces off against Nemesis throughout the four issue series) but it seems that both Carnahan and creator Mark Millar have someone else in mind altogether now. "You know it’s funny—and I’ll let this cat out of the bag just for you—Mark Millar and I were talking about Nemesis and I had mentioned that I think a particularly fantastic Blake Morrow would be Liam Neeson." What do you guys think? Sound off with your thoughts in the usual place.

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[Walts Ghost]

First of all...is Tony Scott out now? I never heard he left the project. Second, Liam Neeson is an awesome choice for the role!

[csdot]

Liam Neeson would be perfect. im curious what happened with Tony Scott as well. im sure Carnahan will be a good man for the job but i was pretty psyched at the prospect of Tony Scott doing a comic book film.

[kernel_thai]

Mark Millar seems to visualize his characters using movie actors so it quite possible that he had an actor in mind from the inception of the comic.