Has Mark Millar's Busy Schedule Killed The Nemesis Movie?

[Brendon Connelly]

Once upon a time, Fox were making plans for a big screen adaptation of Mark Millarand Steve McNiven's Nemesis. I remember it well, not least because Bleeding Cool were the very first to tell you when director Tony Scott became attached.

It was also memorable for the casting rumours that kept bubbling up, often from Millar himself. Was Johnny Depp going to star in the film? With Brad Pitt?

More dependable was a report that Matthew Michael Carnahan, brother to director Joe, and writer of the upcoming World War Z as well as State of Play, The Kingdom and Lions for Lambs, was going to pen the screenplay.

Emphasis now on was. Past tense.

Joe Carnahan has this afternoon tweeted, publicly but as an @reply to Millar, a pretty clear indication that the film has been scrapped:

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/#!/carnojoe/status/154932269134516224"]

"Fucked off" means scrapped, right? I don't know how else to read it - though, when I use the phrase it means the same as "pissed off", ie. made angry.

Millar responded with surprise:

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/#!/mrmarkmillar/status/154938279886725121"]

And we can assume they've now started hashing it out in private.

So there was to be no making-it-up-at-the-same-time ploy here, as there had been with Kick-Ass. Seems like the Carnahans, or at least Fox, wanted Millar to hand over the full line-up of ducks before they started putting them in a row.

The first four-issue miniseries has been completed and published, though it's not clear if Fox wanted more than this, or if they pulled the plug some time ago.

Tony Scott has certainly still got plenty more on his plate, including the drug smuggling thriller Narcosub and a sequel to Top Gun, so I don't think he's missing this project at all.

And perhaps the involvement of Joe Carnahan, who most typically only writes what he directs, is a clue that Scott only held the reins momentarily.

It's not looking good for a Nemesis movie right now. Perhaps if Matthew Vaughn's Superior turns out to be a smash...?

[Meyeraustin]

Good riddance to bad rubbish. That book made no sense and the "twist" at the end would have embarrassed M Night Shymalan on his worst day.

[Mike H.]

Good riddance to bad rubbish. That book made no sense and the "twist" at the end would have embarrassed M Night Shymalan on his worst day.

Agreed. Millar's schedule didn't kill Nemesis. The cold light of day when the studio execs realized they'd optioned a property so generic and pointless that it wouldn't even have a hope of working without a massive infusion of completely new story elements did the job for him.

[Meyeraustin]

Agreed. Millar's schedule didn't kill Nemesis. The cold light of day when the studio execs realized they'd optioned a property so generic and pointless that it wouldn't even have a hope of working without a massive infusion of completely new story elements did the job for him.

I loved the Wanted movie and hated the book. Wanted gave the movie people just enough to work on but as you pointed out, there's nothing to build on with Nemesis. They would have to change like fucking 95% of the story just for it to passably make sense and if you're going to change that much, why bother.

[not him - HIM]

Narcosub? Tony Scott's making a film called Narcosub? This I gotta not see!

As for Nemesis, it takes a special kind of lame to be too dumb and generic for Hollywood. Surely there's got to be some kind of special achievement award for that, hasn't there?

[ampersand]

Good riddance to bad rubbish. That book made no sense and the "twist" at the end would have embarrassed M Night Shymalan on his worst day.

So what was the twist? I'm not going to read the book.

Was it as lame as the "twist" at the end of Chosen? One of the least ballsy and least imaginative "twists" I've ever read. When I read the last page I just thought "of course you went there..."

[sleeve]

guess others agree that purses can not always be salvaged from swine ears?

nemesis was very forgettable. really a disappointment for me.

[JOE SOAP]

Maybe plagiarism and hackery killed it.

Millar must be the only comic writer ever to be in a situation where all adaptations of his work to film, created by others, have been vast and sublimating improvements on the originals. It's an enlightening thought really.

[darkspark]

I'm glad, it didn't deserve a film adaptation let alone a 4 issue mini series.

[Meyeraustin]

So what was the twist? I'm not going to read the book.

Was it as lame as the "twist" at the end of Chosen? One of the least ballsy and least imaginative "twists" I've ever read. When I read the last page I just thought "of course you went there..."

SPOILER





srsly spoiler


The Nemesis villain who can literally do anything and appear anywhere is not a single person but a rotating cast of rich people who pay for the excitement of being a supervillain.