HBO Buries "Preacher"...

[Big Orange]

Mildly disappointing, but we've got the Watchmen movie coming up soon:

HBO Buries Preacher

Mark Steven Johnson, who was set to adapt Garth Ennis' Vertigo comic-book series Preacher into a television series for HBO, told Comics Continuum that the project is no longer going forward. Johnson, who directed Daredevil and Ghost Rider, said that HBO had issues with the tone of the script.

"We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going," he told the site. "But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point."

Johnson said he would rather scrap the project than compromise it or be unfaithful to the source material.

"It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word," he said. "They offered me the chance to redevelop it, but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front, and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO."

The project may yet live on as a feature or a film franchise, but Johnson will not be involved.

"I've heard someone is in the process of getting the rights to turn it into a feature film," he said. "I hope that happens. But I hope it happens as a series of movies, as one movie couldn't do it justice. I really love that story, and I dedicated a lot of my time to honor Garth's work. But it wasn't meant to be."

Link

[Spanky The Dolphin]

I'm really not at all surprised. I never expected that this would ever get off the ground.

Now to see if HBO ends up canceling their adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire too.

[une]

This is for the best. A Preacher TV show wouldn't even last a season, no matter how high the ratings are Christians would be in such a furious uproar about the show that it would get canceled almost immediately.

[loomer]

I do wonder how HBO can exactly preach about 'dark, violent and controversial' after producing Oz.

[Death from the Sea]

I do wonder how HBO can exactly preach about 'dark, violent and controversial' after producing Oz.

but that was a prison drama, so it is ok, this is called "PREACHER" so it must be religious!

[General Zod]

I didn't even realize it was in development, but the fact that it's getting axed sucks. Maybe Showtime will pick it up if we're lucky? Although after shows like Carnival I'm amazed they'd consider Preacher too "dark and controversial".

[Mobiboros]

I didn't even realize it was in development, but the fact that it's getting axed sucks. Maybe Showtime will pick it up if we're lucky? Although after shows like Carnival I'm amazed they'd consider Preacher too "dark and controversial".

I didn't watch Carnival but did it feature a poo-flinging retarded deformed inbred descendent of Christ, and God as a complete douchetool?

[Kon_El]

Johnson said he would rather scrap the project than compromise it or be unfaithful to the source material.

As it should be.

[General Zod]

I didn't even realize it was in development, but the fact that it's getting axed sucks. Maybe Showtime will pick it up if we're lucky? Although after shows like Carnival I'm amazed they'd consider Preacher too "dark and controversial".

I didn't watch Carnival but did it feature a poo-flinging retarded deformed inbred descendent of Christ, and God as a complete douchetool?

I'm not sure about that, but it did have a host of circus freaks complete with a family where the father was pimping out his wife and his daughters, lesbian sex, incest innuendos, and a priest as the anti-christ.

[Ford Prefect]

Dammit Zod, you're making me remember how awesome Carnivale was. Why did they have to cancel it?

[speaker-to-trolls]

Now to see if HBO ends up canceling their adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire too.

I don't think that thing is ever going to get off the ground. It would be like doing seven seasons of Rome, only with far more characters and less accessability. I mean even the most casual viewer knows who Julius Caesar was.

[speaker-to-trolls]

ghetto edit- That and A Song of Ice and Fire features a thirteen year old girl being anally penetrated by a mongol warlord in the first few chapters, I think even for HBO that's going a bit far.
Shit, now even I feel bad for having liked the books.

[General Zod]

Dammit Zod, you're making me remember how awesome Carnivale was. Why did they have to cancel it?

The only plausible answer is that HBO likes fucking over fans of its shows.

[Stormbringer]

Dammit Zod, you're making me remember how awesome Carnivale was. Why did they have to cancel it?

Because it was barely being watched? HBO may not be as caught up in the ratings rat race but people still need to watch their shows. As I understand, it was not grabbing many viewers at all.

Now to see if HBO ends up canceling their adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire too.

I don't think that thing is ever going to get off the ground. It would be like doing seven seasons of Rome, only with far more characters and less accessability. I mean even the most casual viewer knows who Julius Caesar was.

Rome was cancelled because the production coalition for it more or less fell apart. It was a massively expensive show, some what needlessly so, and that was the reason.

Showtime has The Tudors, which is probably closer to what ASoIF would be, and they're managing just fine.

[General Zod]

Because it was barely being watched? HBO may not be as caught up in the ratings rat race but people still need to watch their shows. As I understand, it was not grabbing many viewers at all.

It was a combination of low ratings with an exorbitant production cost.

[speaker-to-trolls]

OK, I assumed Ice and Fire would need production values similar to Rome to work properly, what with the kinds of sets you'd need, the number of extras and so on.

[Big Orange]

A live action version of Preacher would be pretty expensive in places when you had the Saint of Killers gunning down hundreds of Grail soldiers in their huge mountain side fortress, Mazada, then have Mazada get totally demolished by a bomb set by Herr Starr, then later on you have the SoK chewing through dozens of M1 Abrams and then survive a H-bomb exploding on his head.

[Rye]

A live action version of Preacher would be pretty expensive in places when you had the Saint of Killers gunning down hundreds of Grail soldiers in their huge mountain side fortress, Mazada, then have Mazada get totally demolished by a bomb set by Herr Starr, then later on you have the SoK chewing through dozens of M1 Abrams and then survive a H-bomb exploding on his head.

Masada. And those parts could easily be set as finales, cgi for the majority of the story isn't really needed, there'd be bits here and there, and especially in the pilot, but special effects budgets would be saved up for those events.

[Big Orange]

Masada would probably need impressive sets to depict it properly.

I agree about that and Preacher seems more suited to being made into a mini-series than a movie, without going too over budget like with Rome. It would be good if Showtime can pick this project up instead when HBO has lost it's balls, although HBO could do a more epic remake of Stephen King's The Stand.