That 'Spawn' Reboot Has Finished Creature Designs, Could Feel Like A David Fincher Movie
Todd McFarlane has been talking about making a new Spawn movie since as far back as 2009. There was even a time when he wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to take the lead role. More recently, plans felt like they might actually be coming together with Jamie Foxx attached to star and special effects, make-up, and creature designer Greg Nicotero on board. It's been nearly four years since those developments, and here we are without a new Spawn movie. But Nicotero insists work has been done on the movie, and he's just waiting for Todd McFarlane to do something about it.
Speaking with ComicBook.com, Greg Nicotero revealed that he's already worked on character designs for Spawn. The special make-up effects wizard said:
"We have designs ... [McFarlane] came in, and he said, 'Look, we're doing this thing, and it's going to be low budget, and it's kind of down and dirty. And I want it to feel more like the animated show, where it's like Spawn meets David Fincher. He wanted to do this kind of gritty down and dirty thing. And so, we did a lot of concept work here. We did a bunch of design busts and a lot of really, really cool stuff. And then it kind of stalled."
The horror masters at Blumhouse are on board to produce, and it seems like they're not trying to rush McFarlane's creative process. Yet, you would think after all these years he'd be eager and ready to get this in front of cameras. But Nicotero said he's always poking and prodding McFarlane every now and then to see what's going on with the Spawn reboot. He added:
"Every once in a while, I'll reach out and go, 'Hey.' I'll look at the busts in my office and be like, 'Hey, Todd, what's going on with this? Are we ever going to make this?' Because I'm really in love with the design work we did."
The Status of the New Spawn Movie
The last time we heard anything about the development of the new Spawn movie was back in the November of 2020, and it wasn't much of an update at all. Producer Jason Blum told Inverse what was going on:
"It's taken longer than I hoped it would have to get the story right, but we're still working on it. It's gonna be very different, it's gonna be very edgy. What excited me about it is that Spawn is kind of the last great unexploited comic. So that seemed like an amazing opportunity."
Back in 2019, Todd McFarlane himself said "it's just gonna be this dark, ugly two hours worth of movie" and there will be "no joy" in it whatsoever. That's exactly what I'm looking for in a major motion picture after a year and a half of pandemic misery!
Perhaps Todd McFarlane has been too busy relaunching the Spawn universe in comic book form to dedicate the time he needs to get the new movie off the ground. We're certainly not going to hold our breath after over a decade of waiting.