Mark Millar Teases Sam Raimi And Guy Ritchie As Possible Directors For Nemesis Movie

Mark Millar's Nemesis is an upcoming comic series that, apparently, I shouldn't really describe with the phrase "What if Bruce Wayne was the Joker?" because the DC legal people really don't like it. That was Millar's great pitch in an interview back in December, and it immediately created a huge surge of interest in not only the comics but their inevitable big-screen adaptation.

Though Marvel will publish the comics, the rights will remain with Millar and artist Steve McNiven and they will be free to sell the movie option to whoever they see fit. Millar maintains that he's not going to discuss any deals until March, perfectly timed with the peak of Kick-Ass mania and when the first issue of Nemesis hits shelves to undoubtedly sell out multiple print runs, but it seems that he's already receiving interest.

After the break, some quotes from the man himself about the supposedly very real possibility that either Sam Raimi or Guy Ritchie will become the film's director.

All of these quotes come via Bleeding Cool.

Here's Millar posting to his own messageboards on Tuesday January 12th:

SAM RAIMI DIRECTING NEMESIS? WTF? Can I just stomp this rumour before it gets any further? This week CAA was approached by an A-list director to buy Nemesis before it goes to auction in March... but I just want to make it clear that Sam is not the guy who contacted my agent. I actually think he's one of the three best living directors and would be honoured to have him on anything I do, but he's not the guy who got in touch and the truth is that I'm not taking this out until March as originally planned.

And now on Wednesday January 13th:

RAIMI DIRECTING NEMESIS MIGHT NOT BE CRAZY AFTER ALL! Things move fast in Hollywoodland. I just woke up to some VERY unexpected emails...

He's going by the book on how to orchestrate hype here, but I don't know if it's reasonable to just assume he's lying. He appears to be just... representing the facts selectively. There's shades of Did Glen Beck Rape and Murder a Girl in 1990? about some of this, but I think it bears some scrutiny none the less.

So where does Guy Ritchie come into all of this? Another posting by Millar, made today:

I was actually going to talk to Guy about it in the next couple of weeks, but wondered if a brilliant cop versus brilliant supervillain might be too much like Sherlock Holmes. I'm seeing Matthew this week and will see what he reckons.

Sounds a bit more solid. So, Mark is speaking to directors now but not making deals until March? It looks like he may be trying to create a full package of property, director and maybe even screenwriters or stars to take to auction. Come sale time we could suddenly have a full idea of all of the talent attached as studios start to throw their sacks of greenbacks into the ring.

If you too want to be part of the action, you can be. Millar is auctioning off the name of of his supervillain for charity, as he did with the teen lead of Kick-Ass. Like Dave Lizewski did, you can buy instant infamy and a handy Google smokescreen. Once again, the Millar-stalking Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool has the details.