EXCL: Munroe on Dylan Dog Film Dead of Night
Source:Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
November 15, 2008
The next two months will be productive ones for the Dylan Dog feature film
Dead of Night. Director Kevin Munroe (
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles '07) informs ShockTillYouDrop.com that final financing is closing in and that by the beginning of December prep gets underway for, fingers crossed, a January principal photography start in New Orleans this January.
Munroe came aboard the adaptation of Tiziano Sclavi's popular Italian comic book character in April with Brandon Routh (
Superman Returns) already attached to star as suave supernatural investigator. Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly wrote the screenplay.
On the casting tip,
The Hollywood Reporter says Sammo Hung is in talks to star. Munroe adds,
"We're coming up with a cast list and talking to a few actors. We've sent the script off to get feedback and gauge interest. The good thing is that Josh and Tom wrote such a good script, it just really attracts people, so I think within a month we're going to start releasing names of who's coming aboard."
The director is relishing this time working with a creature makeup effects artist (who he's keeping mum on right now) to visualize the myriad menaces Dylan Dog will face in his first adventure on the big screen. And Munroe is most certainly going to make this debut count.
"We've got werewolves, zombies and vampires - and a few sub-categories of those," he reveals.
"His world is everything and the kitchen sink so with this one we don't have anything quite as broad as, say, Hellboy II where you go to the [Troll Market] with different creatures, but here it's a little bit more classic for the first movie and in the second [film] you go a bit deeper."
Wait, a "second movie"? Is
Dead of Night an origin story that sees the rise of Dylan Dog?
"If this was the only Dylan Dog movie to ever hit the market, I'd be bummed but I'd be satisfied that it has a definitive beginning middle and end," he clarifies.
"It's an origin story to the audience in the sense that it's the first time you get to see him. What I was attracted to was that it's an origin story without every showing him being recruited into this whole world. When we meet Dylan at the beginning of this movie, he's at the lowest point of his life. He's already left that life he had in the comic books. And the whole movie is about him getting back up on the horse. So, as an audience member you're introduced to all of these things. You get to see how much of a bad-ass he is, not because he's stepping through to prove it but because he's done it before in another life. It's a next step for him."
Munroe is cognizant of the fact that the genre is riddled with various films about investigators prowling the world for things that go bump in the night, but he's of the belief that it's not about the party, but what you bring to it that counts.
"It's really cool because the curse and the blessing of Dylan Dog is that it's all very familiar territory. I still maintain it's presented in such a fresh way. In the same way you think you've seen every alien movie, and then Men in Black comes along and you realize you never looked at it from that film's point of view. Dylan Dog does that well."
Comments
Posted by: hotzodpockets on November 15, 2008 at 23:52:05
"We've got werewolves, zombies and vampires - and a few sub-categories of those," he reveals."
Would that include nightclub vampires that SUCK?! ;)
Posted by: AntoBlueberry on November 16, 2008 at 04:39:52
I hope Munroe and the guys at Platinum won't screw Dylan too much. I have very little faith in the Sahara screenwriters and I heard that creator Tiziano Sclavi was a lot less than impressed from one of their earlier draft.
In his personal history Dylan reached a low point before starting working as a supernatural investigator, when he left the police and became an alcoholic, after the death of one of his lovers.
I'm still to be convinced that changing the setting from London to New York was a necessary move; I hope they won't commit the mistake of giving him "supernatural gadgets" like they did to poor John Constantine.
And I'm waiting to know who'll portray Bloch, his longtime friend and police commissioner and his comic-relief side-kick (Groucho in the books).
Posted by: Steelsheen on November 16, 2008 at 09:14:21
for Brandon Routh's sake, i hope this is a great film that will hit it big in the box office. i mean seriously the guy was great as Supes, it wasnt his fault that the director and the screenwriters were a bunch of dumbarses. i'm hoping this film will at least restart his career, he deserves as much.
Posted by: Stargazer01 on November 16, 2008 at 12:46:19
GREAT news! I can't wait to watch this movie, and I hope they get it right. Please, don't screw it up. I've never read the Dylan Dog comics but I will start doing so real soon, like next year when they realease The DD Collection in English!
But what I really want is to watch Brandon Routh in more movies, I'm a huge fan, and this Dylan Dog movie sounds very promising. Also, I LOVED Superman Returns, I think both the movie and Brandon are Fantastic, and I know I'm not alone on this.
Posted by: Whoaly on November 16, 2008 at 14:16:52
Whoop! Hope the movie turns out well! I'll be watching with a fresh mind, with no preconceived notion of any Dylan Dog comics..Although I do like BR as an actor. Hope it'll be good!
Posted by: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor on November 17, 2008 at 04:16:54
Anto, the action is now being re-located to New Orleans.
Posted by: Kaz on November 17, 2008 at 16:40:46
First Dylan Dog movie?
What was Dellamorte Dellamore then? Everyone, writer included, insisted on that being a Dylan Dog film.
In any case, wish the new team luck.
Posted by: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor on November 17, 2008 at 16:54:31
Everything I've read about "Dellamorte Dellamore" said it was inspired by Dylan Dog, but it was by no means a faithful or official adaptation.
Posted by: Lorenzo on November 19, 2008 at 18:30:05
"Dellamorte Dellamore" was based on a Tiziano Sclavi's novel that had, as main character, a "first version" of Dylan Dog: so, it was not an official adaptation.
Posted by: Marco on February 16, 2009 at 12:32:34
You know what? **** ***! Dellamorte Dellamore was a true Dylan Dog movie, it has all elements that make this comic what it is. It even features Rupert Everett who IS the person on who Dylan`s look is based on. Yes, it is based on the novel by Tiziano Sclavi, author of Dylan Dog, but there is also an issue of the comic book with this story: "Orrore nero".
This movie will suck and it should be killed.
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