Posted in: Movies | Tagged: film, spawn
Todd McFarlane Says Spawn Won't Be an Origin Story
Late last month we got word that Jamie Foxx will be played Spawn in the in the upcoming R-rated reboot. Aside from that we don't have a lot of details about the movie, but writer, producer, director, and creator of Spawn Todd McFarlane sat down with ComicBook.com and reassured fans that this isn't going to be an origin story.
"Nope. Nope. Nope. I'm not interested in the origin story," McFarlane said. "I can't do it. I can't do it. I've seen too many movies that spend way too much time for the set up."
McFarlane went on to compare the way that we didn't know that much about Wolverine, and the more we learned the less interesting he got.
"Why do you think Wolverine was so popular? Because we didn't know who he was for a long, long time. And that's what made him cool," McFarlane said. "And you can argue that it's like he became a little bit less cool, other than he's Canadian, I don't mind, but he became a little less cool once you actually gave the origin away, right? So, I sort of liked him when he was like a mystery."
This is an interesting way to approach the story, but Spawn is kind of a villain. Villains tend to be at their best when we don't know anything about them. The Joker is awesome because there has been no definitive backstory for him. If they're really going to pitch this R-rated Spawn as a "supernatural thriller" and "superhero creep" story as McFarlane says, keeping the audience in the dark about the origin of Spawn — perhaps never addressing it — might be the right direction to take.