Yo Folko, How the heck awww ya. We's been a having fun here at geek headquaters... what with the wimmens and the dudies and bar-b-que and da mobies. I ain't not drunk or nuttin. Just 'orny... Dang teases all night long. Damn that Joad. Here's the latest on THE MARK... something having nothing whatsoever to do with my intro... but ya know what... That's why I get paid in wooden nickels.
Thought you'd like to hear what's going on with "The Mark" (though with the singularly untalented Rob Leifeld behind this project, I don't have much hope...) This piece comes from The Comic Continuum. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ORIGINAL THINGAMAGIG!!!
LIEFELD ON THE MARK
Following an unsuccessful rewrite of his original screenplay, Awesome Entertainment's Rob Liefeld said he remains hopeful that The Mark movie -- with Will Smith attached at Universal Pictures - will still happen.
"I eat, sleep, drink The Mark," Liefeld said. "That's all I think about everyday.
"I'm completely in the process. There's a possibility I may do another draft of it, but if we can find a really great writer who can deliver it fast, we will. The studio wants to do it. They've spent a lot of money on this project.
"Will is not making a movie right now. Will has not made a movie since he finished shooting Wild Wild West, and that was November of last year. He's been waiting to make another movie and he really wants to make The Mark."
Glen Morgan and James Wong were hired to rewrite Liefeld's original screenplay for The Mark, having worked on the TV series Millennium.
"I was not allowed to read it because I was told, 'Rob, we'd rather you'd not read it,'" Liefeld said. "They did two drafts and (the producers) said, 'We are really disappointed. We are moving on. We are not working with them any more.
"And they called me up and said, 'We'd like to return to your original vision because the script went off the beaten path.'"
Liefeld said the thrust of the movie has been readjusted following the release of last spring's The Matrix.
"I was there at The Matrix premiere, sitting in front of Will, and we watched The Matrix," Liefeld said. "And, I kid you not, there are probably 125 of the same scenes (as The Mark). And I sat there and my heart just sank.
"I had a meeting with Will has his partner a week later - we had all seen The Matrix - and they had kind of beat us to our movie. They did a great job; we could never outdo that movie."
So, Liefeld has re-tinkered the concept.
"The story is that there have been bearers of The Mark throughout the history of time," he said. "It's been underground for quite some time, and it's resurfaces at this particular time as the forces of good and evil are about to do battle.
"The original script that I wrote, the opening 20 pages or 20 minutes, took place during World War II. Will and his partner called me and said, 'Rob, we like the World War II stuff so much,' because Hitler is looking for The Mark. If he can get it, he will dominate mankind; that's kind of the opening of the movie.
"You see the guys that escape with it. There's a group called The Disciples that have always protected it. Christ had The Mark, King Arthur had The Mark and it's been passed on throughout time.
"The movie is now all set in World War II, and that's what we're working on right now."
Liefeld said The Mark will have an Indiana Jones influence.
"Think of if Indiana Jones went into a cave and found an artifact - this isn't in the movie - and it gave him incredible powers he didn't want, that actually screw up his life. Everybody starts hunting him and trying to kill him.
"And he's like, 'I just want to give it back.' But he can't give it back. Because if he gives it back, it kills him."
Despite the typical Hollywood struggles, Liefeld said he remains optimistic about The Mark, even envisioning a trilogy.
"It's completely different than what it was, but actually it's better," he said.
Cheers.
Inviz
