We’re only a few days away from the release of Joe Carnahan’s “The A-Team,” and, from interviews that the director is giving to plug the film, it seems that he hasn’t got his fill of comic-book action from a film where a tank parachutes out of a plane. Superhero Hype spoke to the helmer over the weekend, and he talked up a pair of comic book properties that he’s keen to adapt.
First up, Carnahan’s put his name forward to take over from Sam Mendes on the long-gestating movie version of Garth Ennis’ “Preacher.” The series, published between 1995 and 2000, follows a priest who comes into contact with a supernatural being called Genesis and goes on a mission to find an absentee God, and has long been in development as an adaptation — “Tank Girl” director Rachel Talalay was attached for some time, and “Daredevil” writer-director Mark Steven Johnson was working on a version for HBO. Thankfully, both of those bullets were dodged, and John August was hired last year to script for Mendes.
The British director left the project earlier in the year, and Carnahan told Superhero Hype “…I’m really keen on or interested in… “Preacher” because I’m a big Garth Ennis fan and I love that series and that’s out there, and that might be something… I really love that. You gotta do the Allfather (D’Aronique) and all that crazy shit and I haven’t seen a script and I don’t know what it is, but yeah, we’ll see. Who knows?” It seems like that it’s possible that Carnahan’s had early discussions with producer Neal Moritz, but that’s at the most — it could simply be him expressing an interest.
The other property that’s piqued his curiosity is Marvel’s “Taskmaster”; initially, a C-list supervillain who is able to mimic the physical movements of anyone that he sees, he’s trained heroes in more recent continuity. Carnahan says “For Alex (Young, producer of “The A-Team”) I was going to do ‘Taskmaster.’ Originally I wanted to do ‘Juggernaut’ cause I had a really good take on that, and then Taskmaster was something we talked about, and I haven’t discussed it for ages, but I would love to get back in. I love the idea of a guy with photographic reflexes, he can see something and repeat it, I thought that was such a cool idea… I think it might be one of those Marvel characters you really need to reimagine because he’s got the whole skull and cape — it’s a bit grandiose I think — but it would certainly be a cool thing.”
Aside from the crushing disappointment that the career of the once-promising Carnahan seems to have become (more on this later in the week…), he seems like a relatively good fit for both projects — their flexible morality fit his sensibilities, (the sub-Tarantino feel of “Preacher” would seem perfect for the guy who made “Smokin’ Aces”) and more importantly, we don’t care enough about them to get upset if he’s hired for either. Seriously, Taskmaster? A guy who can copy other people’s movements? That’s the movie that Carnahan’s burning to make? It doesn’t sound like either are particularly close to happening, but, assuming “The A-Team” performs this weekend, the director is likely to find himself linked to a lot of big properties, so either is possible. He’s meant to shoot the man vs. wolves flick “The Grey” later in the year with Bradley Cooper, so it seems like that’d be first.