Director Adam McKay Declares Comic Book Movie The Boys "Not Dead"
Posted 02.13.12 by Ryan
Over the weekend, we reported that Columbia Pictures had dumped its adaptation of anti-superhero comic book The Boys, in what looked like yet another sign of a studio becoming cautious about producing a big-budget movie with a potential R-rating (for example, Universal's cancellation of director Gullermo del Toro's adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness last year).
Created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, the Dynamite Entertainment comic book followed a CIA-backed group of enforcers who tracked the planet's superheroes and made sure they stayed in line. The movie version had been in development for years, with director Adam McKay (Anchorman, The Other Guys) becoming attached to direct in the summer of 2010 and quickly promising that the movie "has to be R" and that he had Sony's approval for the rating.
After Columbia/Sony's recent rejection, McKay sent a response to Film School Rejects and revealed that not only is The Boy "not dead" but it also won't require the R-rating that McKay had previously insisted on.
It’s not dead. Two studios very interested. Love Sony but they made a mistake. It’s now PG-13. But I found cool ways to keep it edgy. [director Christopher] Nolan does so much with that rating. I want this movie to have the conceptual floor of MIB: the police for the superheroes, with the bad ass action groove of The Matrix or Oldboy.
McKay also took to his Twitter to make sure that fans were aware that The Boys being put into turnaround by Columbia was not the end of the project.
The Boys film adaptation is not dead. Some studios interested. This could be the coolest super hero franchise out there.
Which studios are interested in the movie was not revealed, but it's likely we'll hear something about it soon. The Boys was adapted by Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay (Clash of the Titans) and Simon Pegg could star in the movie, as one of the lead characters, Wee Hughie. Pegg, who wrote an introduction to the first volume of the graphic novel, recently admitted that he had read the script but was nervous that he wight be "too old" to play the character.