For those of you worrying right now that Guillermo del Toro is trying to reboot the work of Jim Jarmusch: stop worrying. It’s not going down like that. Instead, Bloody-Disgusting is reporting that del Toro is actually set to produce an adaptation of the DC Comics character, Deadman, for Warner Bros.
International director Nikolaj Arcel is reportedly set to helm DC/WB project.
In the DC Universe, Deadman is a circus trapeze artist named Boston Brand, who dresses up in a red suit and white makeup to perform under the stage name (you guessed it) Deadman. When Brand is murdered while performing his act, his spirit is held over by the Hindu goddess Rama Kushna, who endows Brand’s ghost with the ability to possess living bodies. Rama Kushna’s decree: for Brand to use his new powers to hunt down his murderer(s) and obtain justice.
So far this Deadman film is being tagged as “Crow-esque,” which is little surprise, given the premise. I imagine comparisons between the two films will get made before, during, and even after Deadman‘s release. However, unlike the Goth-themed Crow, which pretty much had its genre lane pre-fashioned for it (Goth-horror), Deadman is going to have a much tougher time finding an audience.
Will it be horror? The usual super hero origin? Or will we likely get the sort of scary/funny, visually stylized, supernatural action fare that Guillermo del Toro has made famous with his Hellboy films?
All I know is that there is a LOT of room for plenty of possession gags in this flick!
Del Toro being attached to this project is pretty much the only thing giving it any buzz right now. However, del Toro’s name is also currently attached to several high-profile projects, so how much effort he’ll have to lend to Deadman is unclear at this point. We’ll let you know more about the project as we hear more.
No word yet on when DC/WB wants Deadman in theaters.
