Movies
Vincenzo Natali Talks Dark Desire to Bring ‘Swamp Thing’ Back to the Big Screen
I’m not exactly sure the actual context of this conversation as I can’t get the video to play for the life of me, but apparently Cube and Splice director Vincenzo Natali is looking to take his dark storytelling to Silver Pictures as he’d like to(?) take on the latest incarnation of Swamp Thing, once rumored to be coming in 3-D. Is this a campaign piece or is something real going down? Check out what he had to say below and you tell us.
Speaking with MTV News during this weekend’s WonderCon in San Francisco, Natali said he’d love to make a “Swamp Thing” movie based on Alan Moore’s classic run of the series.
“There are two incarnations of Swamp Thing — both of them are quite wonderful,” said Natali. “The first one was by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, which was a more traditional sort of retake on classic, James Whale-style, Universal Studio horror films. Then Alan Moore reinvented the character in the early ’80s, and that’s actually the version that’s a little more interesting to me.”
“[Swamp Thing] kind of became… I don’t want to call him an ecological superhero, but he became an ecological character quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen before,” he explained. “It’s a comic book, but it delves into some very interesting stuff, both psychological and philosophical.”
It was reported last August Joel Silver’s Silver Pictures would be bringing the creature back to the big screen in 3-D. This is a project they’ve had in development for FIVE years now, but hopefully we’ll see some progress soon.
The story begins when a toxic chemical transforms a research scientist into a monstrous mass of vegetation.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallis.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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