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Latest
Updates on: X-Ray
X-Ray
Updated:
Monday
30th June 2003: X-Ray Update:
Moviehole discovers
the popular "X-Ray" is coming to
the big screen, and the writer has targeted one of the Hanks boys
for it.
Comics to
film seem to be the flavour of the moment, but despite what it
looks like, not every idea gets greenlit. I had a chat to Sam
F. Park, one of the writers of the promising script for X-Ray[as
well as Magnus Robot Fighter film that never eventuated] about
the trials and tribulations of
his getting his genuinely intriguing superhero movie off the ground.
That [X-Ray]
is the current script that I'm about to go out with (story by
myself and Peter Lenkov of Demolition Man fame). Note that former
comic book artist and special effects designer Kerry Gammill did
the. X-Ray is my valentine to all the comic books and their four-color
adventures that I
grew up reading. If the movie Spider-Man was a respectful treatment
of the comic book and a throw-back to a Jimmy Stewart-sort of
goodguy/superhero with webshooters instead of six-guns, X-Ray
is a young Tom Hanks turned radioactive mutant superhero. He's
a comic book sort of wise-cracking
character with a sort of Outer Limits strangeness to him. In today's
weird world of nukes and warfare he fulfils the classic desires
of the superhero mythology: you wish like hell he really was walking
the planet dealing with atomic messes. And talk about high concept!
Every kid in the world can hear
the name, X-Rayand know exactly what he looks likes and understand
that his powers concern using radiation. Hell, I loved writing
this script and I finished it before SPIDER-MAN came out. I waited
to release it in the wake
of this crazy superhero summer. This is one for the true comic
book fans but it's also an original character created especially
for the movies. All the good stuff you love about comic book superheroes
is in there smoothered
with a large entertainment factor .I'm shooting for Stan Lee snappy
patter and heart with Jack Kirby action and drama on this project,
explains Park. So
Tom Hanks is the No.1 choice for the lead role then? I always
wrote it as if for an 80s version of a younger Tom Hanks. Not
sure exactly who I'd go with today but he'd need to have a dark-haired
surfer boy look yet able to do light comedy. Sean William Scott
maybe? Tom Welling looks exactly what I'd go for but of course,
I don't think that's going to happen. But you get the idea. If
Ashton Kutcher parted his hair on the side and combed it back
and cut it off the ears (beach boy shaggy is fine), he'd do. Could
be a way for him to change his image and move him into an action
franchise.
I've seen some of these soap opera actors that were up for Superman.
Some of them would be perfect.
Which begs
the question why not Colin Hanks? If Colin Hanks bulked up surfer
boy trim he'd be a good choice. Ray Sheppard (X-Ray) is into surfing
in the story - no surfing is shone but it helps explain his sturdy
build.
Some may recall
Park and writer Clay McBride - was close to getting a Magnus:
Robot Fighter film off the ground about a decade ago at one stage
with Richard Donner [Superman] attached. It's still something
he'd like to do.
We went into
Donner back then - early 90s - and pitched Magnus with all the
material along with color laser scans of those beautiful painted
covers, there was no Valiant company at the time. Scott Nimerfro
one of his top
development execs at the time - LOVED it. Scott, a true comics
fan, was instrumental in getting Donner interested in X-Men. We
were set to come in and pitch directly to Donner when Warner Brothers
panicked over Radio Flyer
and Donner was thrown in to take over the project .The writer
was directing and after two weeks of work, the studio saw he couldn't
hack it. This ended any pitching to Donner for over a year and
by then he and his wife were on
to other things.
Next up we
spoke with Dan Mazur (I think that was the name) at Larry Gordon.
He LOVED it. He showed to everyone in the company and it went
straight up the line to Larry Gordon. But a couple of days earlier
Larry
Gordon had just paid a million dollars (which was a record at
the time) for The Ticking Man, a spec script about a human-looking
android with an atomic bomb in it) and had Bruce Willis attached
(this eventually fell apart and
no movie was ever made). Larry saw our work and the art reproductions
and told Dan, "THIS (Magnus)...is a Larry Gordon film. But
we've got too many
androids running around here." So, once again we were cut
off at the knees by
some other event even though everyone in the company loved the
work.
Later we showed
it to an exec at Silver and again we went up the chain of command.
This time it was cut off by a senior VP right under Silver who
just couldn't get past the "Robot Fighter" part (obviously
he wasn't a
comic fan). But that wasn't the end at Silver. A couple of years
later I was working out in gym and a guy got to talking with me
about my Rocketeer t-shirt. He knew his comics and he recognized
that I did to. Eventually we exchanged that I was a writer and
he worked for Silver. I told him that
once I pitched a comic book project at Silver called MAGNUS. The
guy's face drops. He shouts, "I've got that damn treatment
and your art and conceptual work in the top drawer of my desk!
That's the best damn comic book to film
treatment I have ever read!" Well, this leads to another
series of meetings but despite the fact everyone at Silver loved
it, that same ol' VP shut it exec!). Sigh. Clay and I knew we
had this terrific story based upon a largely unknown comic book
character that we had crafted a crackerjack set of material on
to sell it and yet, we couldn't get past these bizarre happenings
at the top of management (or like in Gordon's case, it was a day
late).
Park says
he still hopes to make it with interest hopefully just around
the corner. This is an interesting story concerning an important
character (if minor among superhero comics history) that has a
great many fans among some of the top comic creators in the industry
- not to mention George Lucas.
More
News on X-Ray as we get it!
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