Preacher being adapted as an HBO TV series! (Possible NSFW pics)

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OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!!!!

Yes the people adapting it suck, but still, I can't help but be bouncing off the ceiling at this news. Seriously the best comic series of all time by a wide wide margin.

My cast:

Jesse Custer: Nathan Fillion
Cassidy: Robert Carlyle
Tulip: Katee Sackhoff (though I know she couldn't do two shows at once)
Herr Star: Stellan Skarsgård or go nuts and get Clancy Brown (assuming he can do a decent german accent)

IMAGE(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/Sinatar/visavis.jpg)

Being that I've never read The Preacher and don't have access to the HBO network, I'm not nearly as excited as you seem to be.

And frankly, I'm always a little iffy about anything with "Preacher" in the title...

There's no way in hell (or heaven, pick your poison) they're going to make this work.

Hell, Preacher has a supporting character called "Arseface". It features an overly obese man actually squishing two people. In the first side story alone, there are three things no studioboss on this hemisphere will ever greenlight.

Sorry, but this project seems to be a deadbirth to me.

NemesisZero wrote:

Hell, Preacher has a supporting character called "Arseface".

IMAGE(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/Sinatar/arseface.jpg)

Is that one actually connected to the series?

NemesisZero wrote:

Is that one actually connected to the series?

The cancelled movie actually, was a mockup done by the FX team.

I think the crew that did Carnivale could easily make this into an amazing series. On the same note though, I think it'll be too "out there" to succeed for more than a season or two, just like Carnivale.

Still, I'm pretty psyched.

Sinatar wrote:

The cancelled movie actually, was a mockup done by the FX team.

Well, it's suprisingly accurate. Hope they get the team on board.

Jesse wrote:

"Go f*ck yourself."

(I assume, btw, that Arseface is based on the kid who didn't manage to kill himself in the wacky Judas Priest suicide lawsuit thingy.

"Preacher," which ran from 1995-2000, told the story of a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by Genesis, a supernatural entity conceived by the unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon. Given immense powers, the preacher teamed with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire and set out on a journey across America to find God -- who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven -- and hold him accountable for his negligence.

The series -- which developed a rabid fan base -- was known for tackling religious and political issues, its dark and violent sense of humor and its observations of American culture. It also was one of the series that helped define Vertigo, the adult-oriented line of comics from DC Comics.

Sounds great. Why is it your personal favorite, Sinitar? BTW, that picture made me puke.

NemesisZero wrote:

There's no way in hell (or heaven, pick your poison) they're going to make this work.

Hell, Preacher has a supporting character called "Arseface". It features an overly obese man actually squishing two people. In the first side story alone, there are three things no studioboss on this hemisphere will ever greenlight.

Sorry, but this project seems to be a deadbirth to me.

Nem, you're right that no network studio would touch this, but this is HBO. They wouldn't even blink at those things. HBO's got Rome which features full frontal nudity in just about every episode, including male, and has had brother/sister incest. I've never read Preacher so I don't know if it's violent, but they don't shy from the violence either. Rome had a gladiator battle with guys getting arms and legs cut off, decapitation from a shield.. way more graphic then anything in the movie Gladiator. They also have Big Love which is about a mormon guy with 3 wives. And I won't even get into the freaky stuff they had going on in Carnivale. If anyone will do it right and maintain high production values, I'd trust an HBO or a Showtime over anyone else.

I didn't make it through the series, but the level of violence in Preacher was extreme by even cable TV standards. I don't know if it was any more violent than the average comic these days, but for me it just became a dreary series of decapitations, shootings, manglings, and maulings. Just too much. For me it overwhelmed the more interesting character-driven parts of the story so I had to bail.

Preacher is also my favorite comic book ever. Anyone dodging it because of the name, well - it's about a preacher even less than Fight Club is about a fighting club, if you know what I mean. The titular preacher is p.o.'ed at God, and the plot is that he's trying to track the Big Man down for a little payback. No foolin'.

Along the way, just about every messed-up topic that you can think of is touched on. It's not so much the violence, although it's there in spades, but Garth Ennis just loves to talk about taboos. Think of the scene from Pulp Fiction with The Gimp. Got it? Now think of 9 trade paperbacks in which that would be some of the mildest content.

That said, it's also one of the best stories I've ever read; shock value alone doesn't go far with me.

I don't know if I like the idea of Nathan Fillion as Jesse, but I'm all for getting Fillion all the work he can handle, so what the hey.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I don't know if I like the idea of Nathan Fillion as Jesse, but I'm all for getting Fillion all the work he can handle, so what the hey.

I would have thought that too, if I hadn't seen him play the preacher villain in the final season of Buffy. I can't remember the character's name of the top of my head, but he was perfect for it. I could see him as Jesse too I think.

The reason, btw, that I feel that way is that Jesse is a fairly pure-hearted character, who sees things in black and white, and I've only seen Fillion play the fairly cynical Mal. But I love him as Mal!

HBO has done a bunch of TV series right... hopefully they can add Preacher to the list. I'm looking forward to it

As far as I've been able to determine, Cassidy from Fallout 2 was named after the character from Preacher. Just a useless fact thrown out for no discernable reason.

I've never read Preacher, but I've had some interest in doing so.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I've never read Preacher, but I've had some interest in doing so.

Do it. I read the first of 9 trade paperbacks on a weekend, and then drove to the store (across town, pain in the butt) on a weekday (unheard of for me) to get the rest. Which I finished in less than a week. I'm waiting for a good moment to re-read it, but I like to let some time go by so that it's good and fresh. Same thing with, say, The Dark Knight returns: I like to forget it a little bit in order to appreciate it with new eyes. Happily, I'm probably due for a re-read of that one. Maybe I'll do it this Christmas season.

souldaddy wrote:

Sounds great. Why is it your personal favorite, Sinitar? BTW, that picture made me puke.

A few reasons.

1) It is insanely funny, every issue had something in it that would make me literally laugh out loud, usually on the bus to maximize embarassment. They really made good use of the main characters ability (the word of god, he could command anyone to do [i]anything[/i]).

IMAGE(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/Sinatar/miss.jpg)

2) It is one continuous story with a clear start middle and end, it isn't a chain of unconnected stories with some flimsy continuity, it is one big story.

3) It's made for adults, it's violent, dark and full of death mayhem and sex.

IMAGE(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/Sinatar/Preacher-Issue07-page06of24.jpg)

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:
Jesse wrote:

"Go f*ck yourself."

(I assume, btw, that Arseface is based on the kid who didn't manage to kill himself in the wacky Judas Priest suicide lawsuit thingy.

In the comics Arseface is a supremely dumb teenage who tried to follow in his idol's footsteps. His idol being Kurt Cobain, and by follow I mean blow his brains out with a shotgun. He survived.

Sinatar wrote:
H.P. Lovesauce wrote:
Jesse wrote:

"Go f*ck yourself."

(I assume, btw, that Arseface is based on the kid who didn't manage to kill himself in the wacky Judas Priest suicide lawsuit thingy.

In the comics Arseface is a supremely dumb teenage who tried to follow in his idol's footsteps. His idol being Kirk Cobain, and by follow I mean blow his brains out with a shotgun. He survived.

Was that Kurt Cobain's little brother?

I laughed (again!), but this thread now needs a NSFW tag.

Oh, and I totally agree that it's one big story with a beginning, middle, and end. It's awesome.

One thing that bothers me is the guy who wrote/directed Daredevil is in charge.

Thanks for the points on HBO, I'm now mildly optimistic.

Let me note that I appreciate Preacher as a solid piece of work, but best comic ever? Sorry, but there's no way I'll put it ahead of Sandman or V for Vendetta.

Preacher is one of my favorite comics of all time, though I have never read Sandman. Unfortunately, Preacher has such a cursed history in regards to actually being transfered to film that I'm not getting my hopes up.

Funkenpants wrote:

I didn't make it through the series, but the level of violence in Preacher was extreme by even cable TV standards. I don't know if it was any more violent than the average comic these days, but for me it just became a dreary series of decapitations, shootings, manglings, and maulings. Just too much. For me it overwhelmed the more interesting character-driven parts of the story so I had to bail.

The violence in Preacher isn't any more extreme then what we are seeing weekly in Heroes and that's on bloody NBC. I doubt HBO will have any problems with the violence in Preacher at all.

Wait, the signature move of one of Heroes' protagonists is meaner than Jesse's "rip people's nose open"-attack?

I need those DvDs.

This thrills me, if they are willing to stick to the comic Sin City style.

Sinatar wrote:

The violence in Preacher isn't any more extreme then what we are seeing weekly in Heroes and that's on bloody NBC. I doubt HBO will have any problems with the violence in Preacher at all.

I haven't seen Heroes, but I've never seen any show on television with the scope, intensity, detail, or repetitiveness of the violence in the issues of Preacher I read. I've seen movies like that, but not yet a series. Maybe television standards have gone past what I've seen.

NemesisZero wrote:

Wait, the signature move of one of Heroes' protagonists is meaner than Jesse's "rip people's nose open"-attack?

I need those DvDs.

That depends. How do you feel about eating brains?

Funkenpants wrote:
Sinatar wrote:

The violence in Preacher isn't any more extreme then what we are seeing weekly in Heroes and that's on bloody NBC. I doubt HBO will have any problems with the violence in Preacher at all.

I haven't seen Heroes, but I've never seen any show on network television with the scope, intensity, detail, or repetitiveness of the violence in the issues of Preacher I read. I've seen movies like that, but not yet a series.

Agreed, some of the violence in Preacher was absolutely insane (but I enjoyed it). Mentioning any of the specific ridiculously cartoony deaths would almost count as spoilers, since each one was a "What the hell!" moment, but I don't see Heroes ever approaching Preacher's level of detail. And it's not just the violence, it's the themes on religion. Remember the direct descendant of Christ in Preacher? Hilarious, but definitely not meant for network television.

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