TOP COW DISCUSSES NEW WITCHBLADE FEATURE FILM

[MichaelDoran]

Earlier this week Top Cow Productions, along with its partners Platinum Studios and Arclight Films, announced a new joint production effort to bring Top Cow's signature comic book property Witchblade to the screen in a feature length movie.

First published 1995 with Top Cow founder and CEO Marc Silvestri and superstar comic book artist Mike Turner among the original creative team, the series has centered around, "a deadly ornate gauntlet that gives superpowers to the wearer, a chosen female bearer of each generation, who possesses it", and has previously been adapted into a TNT television movie and then weekly series that ran for two seasons on the cable network, and more recently into a successful anime TV show in Japan.

Set to film on location in Australia and targeted to begin production in September 2008, many of the plans for the film are being kept under wrap, but Newsarama was able to spend a few moments with Top Cow President and one of the film's Executive Producers Matt Hawkins to find out what additional details could be revealed.

First and foremost, Hawkins confirmed that Top Cow and their partner co-producers are eying an international theatrical release for the film, with Arclight acting as the investment, production, and distributing company, with help on the foreign release end from Randy Greenberg (a former Universal Studios senior executive) of the Greenberg Group.

"We turned down a few direct-to-DVD possibilities and held out for more of what we were looking for," said Hawkins, confirming the theatrical release plans. "I've always respected Marc [Silvestri's] position on other media development; that he'd rather there not be a film, game, or whatever than be some one-off piece of sh*t. Of course this is subjective, one man's piece of sh*t could certainly be another man's favorite film … heh. Getting a live action film going with a female lead is tough though!"

In a demonstration of how tough, Top Cow's president recalled the recent history of getting Witchblade onto the big screen, including a now defunct deal with a Chinese firm looking to invest in Hollywood films, which Hawkins confirmed is unrelated to this new deal, aside from Top Cow's continuing partnership with Platinum.

"Witchblade has been in development for feature for a long time," said Hawkins. "It takes a long time to get some of these things made. The Chinese financing company shut down their entire operation, so it wasn't like they just put Witchblade into turnaround. That was disappointing for both Platinum and Top Cow, but you just have to roll with it to keep the ball rolling.

"I remember when the TV series came off the air, people were telling us that we wouldn't be able to get anything going with it for ten years at the earliest. We discussed options and decided to try and get an animated project going and through some luck and perseverance we got the anime series made."

Hawkins couldn't divulge too many story details about the new film, as the screenplay was just completed last week and the producing team are all just reading it now, but he did reveal that of all the various Witchblade incarnations over the years, this film would most resemble the original source material.

Said Hawkins: "One of the great things about the Witchblade is that the basic mythology and origin allows us to do pretty much just about anything we want. We've decided to be pretty tight-lipped about the script itself for now, which is easy for me since I haven't actually read it yet [laughs]. What I say is the live action film will be more in line with the comics than anything else."

Continuing, when asked, Hawkins did reveal a little more in terms of the planned tone of the film.

"This is always hard to peg as just one thing, but after years of discussion with Platinum we all sort of decided that the best route to go for live action film was to take a more horror-based approach. It's not a gore-fest, but certainly more horrific than the TV series. With the supernatural elements this is pretty easy to do."

Given the new film is to most closely resemble the comic book series, Hawkins addressed the iconic costume issue, the revealing nature of which was played "down" for the live action TV series. Will the new theatrical film go for the more original design … i.e. more skin? He wouldn't say if a decision has been made, but acknowledged it was an issue on all their radar.

"This has been a topic of discussion since the beginning," he said, "I think once the director and physical production people are in place a final turnaround for this will be in place."

And speaking of the former television series (soon to be released on DVD), are the producing team concerned with there being confusion in the marketplace as to whether the film and the TNT series are related, given the unusual trajectory of there being an unrelated theatrical movie produced so soon after a TV show?

"Ultimately, all of these 'versions' were based off of the comic books and the original story bible developed from the comic stories," Hawkins explained. "They all follow the same basic mythology of the gauntlet and its bearers. Batman has certainly undergone and interesting evolution over the years in media. I think most people know that the Adam West TV series and the Dark Knight film coming out are based on the same source material, just different takes."

Finally, Hawkins addressed whether having a high-profile property like the upcoming Wanted feature film (based on Mark Millar's creator-owned series published by Top Cow) in the market helps get a new project like this off the ground.

"Yes and no," Hawkins answered. "Certainly having other things that have been made and perform well lends credibility, but these things all sort of live and die on their own merits. I really thought it would get easier once we had some success here, but it really isn't. There is so much money on the line to get this stuff made that a lot of people have to sign off so I'm always amazed that anything ever gets made.

"Truthfully, you just plug away and sometimes you just get lucky. But you have to be playing to get lucky."

[British Gent]

Not impressed, sorry. Maybe if they re-jiggled the story arch from the first ten issues of the comics run it would make for a cool movie but really I'm not feeling it.

The option to have a 'fantasy' Witchblade movie set in ancient times would be appealing.

[Clark_1986]

I hope they make it like the comic because the TV costume was just not right

[I-Ching]

Mmmm...I dunno about this.

I know some people liked the show but for me it was a major disappointment. It was a basic cop show with a clunky 'witchblade' prop that looked like a simple sword.

It wasn't visually interesting and it wasn't written better than your average show...so essentially it didn't stand out.

The fact that this film is supposed to start production in 4 mere months and they don't have announcements of a director or star or even who wrote the screenplay is troubling because either they either don't have anything that will excite fans or they don't have anything at all. There's not even a producer credit to lend this film a foundation of success. The fact they had already aligned themselves with this chinese firm to help make films when the firm and Top Cow don't have the experience in film production and release.

Witchblade is a property that can very easily get messed up in translating it to the screen because you know that someone will say that they can't take the basic look of the character and bring it to the big screen because it's "too comic booky" or something...look at the boring GI Joe costumes and X-Men ones....booooring.

The fact that, in regards to the costume, Hawkins states:
""This has been a topic of discussion since the beginning," he said, "I think once the director and physical production people are in place a final turnaround for this will be in place."
Shows that they DO NOT have a clear vision of this film and what it should be and look like. Change one thing, change everything.

I'll hope for more information as time goes on to make this endeavor seem promising.

[TheMightyGeek]

Hey, if they can work a hottie into a Giger metal bikini, who gives a crap about plot? You think I watch Catwoman with the sound on?

[Mega Gear X]

Originally Posted by Clark_1986

I hope they make it like the comic because the TV costume was just not right

Yeah, a knight's gauntlet on an average woman off the street...

Expect similar costuming here, since Witchblade isn't the same character as she was when the series first began. At the most extreme, maybe we'll get a black leather costume with a knight's gauntlet this time...but I don't think Hollywood has the stones to do the moving Giger strand bikini over naked body route.

[Question86]

I had a huge crush on Yancy Butler when the show was on

[aquilar]

this can be awesome or totally wrong, im the artist on witchblade comic but before that im a fan of the comic, my opinion is , skip the obtaining of the wb story, drop it in thru some flashback or something, and then build a cool atmospheric story, if this goes in a hellboy like direction, cool story and cool visuals im sold in the end the mood will be thba crucial thing, id even push a mental strugle between the bearer and the sentient blade trying to take over im excited about the movie but also scared of bad treatment

[aquilar]

this can be awesome or totally wrong, im the artist on witchblade comic but before that im a fan of the comic, my opinion is , skip the obtaining of the wb story, drop it in thru some flashback or something, and then build a cool atmospheric story, if this goes in a hellboy like direction, cool story and cool visuals im sold in the end the mood will be thba crucial thing, id even push a mental strugle between the bearer and the sentient blade trying to take over im excited about the movie but also scared of bad treatment

[ubuking]

I agree that a project like Witchblade is really difficult to work well on the screen. I can easily imagine it being a b-movie. I don't have anything against b-movies, I like most of them, but the b means something.
I don't know why, but I keep reminding myself of the first Species movie. There, you have a horror movie with a hot looking girl who produces tenticles from her body and her full alien form seems metal-organic in nature. I like the movie because, beside its defects, the girl and her scenes were great. So if the Witchblade movie can capture somehow those scenes and add good acting and a good story, them I'm in. Otherwise I'm for (some) comics to remain in its media.

[Kolimar]

Excellent.

[NightRiver]

Whatever happened to the Magdalena movie?

[finn5fel]

I, for one, I'm excited. I think the movie could go awfully wrong, true, but that's true of pretty much every project. Witchblade is a great story, and I think it has the potential to be a terrific movie, so I'm going to stay optimistic for the time being. As for what I'd like to see in the movie, I'd love it if the did the first story arc from back in the day. And regarding who I'd like to see wearing the gauntlet (and little else), does anyone know if Adriana Lima acts?

[mhawkins]

I-Ching,

Just a quick note in response to your comment. We are very close to announcing several other things about the film, including the director. This announcement was coordinated for the Cannes Film Festival. We're on track to get done what needs to be done, but clearly if things are not 100% in line the "in production" date would be moved back. Commiting to a start date is important as without one things won't move forward. I know several of the other pieces of the puzzle and I think once they get announced everyone will get a better idea of where the film is going.

Thanks!

Matt Hawkins

[Xeero]

I'm excited for this. Only thing that disappoints me is that one of my film-making goals was to actually make a Witchblade, movie. Damn!

I really hope this comes out right. The main core of the character and the premise should be very easy to transfer and not drift away from. Essentially, it's about a tough cop who bonds with a magical gauntlet. With those things intact, all it would need is a good script, good actors, good direction and some nice battle scenes and it should be awesome. I, myself as a Witchblade fan, would LOVE to see the scene with Ian slicing through a car or catching a bullet set to hit Irons.

[jediracer]

anyone know if it's possible to fine the tv series on dvd anywhere???

*nevermind

[Fletcher]

Originally Posted by TheMightyGeek

Hey, if they can work a hottie into a Giger metal bikini, who gives a crap about plot? You think I watch Catwoman with the sound on?

Now that is effin funny!