Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.

Never thought it would happen, but today I got a press release from Electric Entertainment and Storm Entertainment, the two companies that are producing the film adaptation of the cult comic PREACHER:

Rupert Harvey’s Electric Entertainment today announced Production on the movie version of the hit comic “Preacher”.

Both a moral fable for our time, and a love letter to the values of the old west, the movie tells the tale of a man in search of God - but definitely NOT for religious or spiritual enlightenment. Told in a highly contemporary vernacular and set in west Texas, depicting images and inhabitants of heaven, hell, and the space in between (with an Irish vampire and John Wayne’s ghost thrown in for good measure), the comic book series by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, has long been an international underground phenomenon. The picture goes before the cameras in November with Rachel Talalay (Dice, Touching Evil, Tank Girl) directing from a screenplay by Ennis.

A Co-Production of Electric and H. Michael Heuser’s Storm Entertainment, the picture is currently out to cast through casting director Pam Dixon Mickelson (Mask of Zorro, Vertical Limit). To be produced by Harvey (Bones, Plunkett & Macleane), the picture is one of the first 18 films on the release slate of the new U.S. marketing and distribution company, the Premiere Group. Budgeted at $22m, Worldwide sales are being handled by Storm. Executive Producers are Heuser, Tom Astor (Tank Girl, Gorillaz), and Steve Robbins, Jim Reeve & Martin Auty of UK’s Visionview Ltd.

There's a lot here to be happy about for fans of the comic. For one thing, Garth Ennis himself wrote the script. I read an early draft of his PREACHER script, back when Arse-face was still in it, and it read like an easy NC-17, profane and violent and full of images that would melt the average mainstream mind. I have heard that they've done some work to make it slightly more palatable, but knowing Ennis, that may just be a matter of degrees. This story is built to offend more mild sensitivities, and he managed to do a good job of preserving the tone of his comic in the script I read.

The fact that this is being done with Talalay in place is also pretty good news, TANK GIRL not withstanding. She's been a passionate supporter of this piece for a while now, and when a director is this determined to get something up on screen, and when they have to fight to maintain their vision, you tend to get something made from the heart.

I certainly hope they pull this one off, and I'll be keeping my eye on things as they move forward. I know how many fans the series has, and we'll work to make sure you get all your PREACHER news here first.