It’s a good week if you’ve had your eye on James Wan as word now has it that he’ll be joining efforts to adapt Mark Millar’s The Magic Order for Netflix series development, executive producing with Lindsey Beer.
It’s been a long while since comic book creator Mark Millar’s plans for projects like Jupiter’s Legacy, Empress and others were announced for select screen treatments. Some of those plans were a good bet to be tied with Netflix following its acquisition of Millarworld in 2017 and on Tuesday, the streaming giant made it official with the additions of American Jesus, Huck and Sharkey The Bounty Hunter to the fray.
An adaptation Marvel’s Icon imprint, Mark Millar’s 2010 graphic novel series, Nemesis, had been in the works for years between two different studios back to back. The project is currently slated as a forthcoming Warner Bros. release now housed under former WB marketing chief Sue Kroll’s Kroll & Co. Entertainment which now stands aligned with former RSA Films president Jules Daly.
The news comes packed in an exclusive by Mike Fleming Jr. at Deadline that delves into Daly’s departure as she takes off with the launch of her own production banner, Big Red Films in a producing deal with sister company Scott Free. Nemesis, penned by Stephen Chin, tells of an Elon Musk-like inventor who, when framed for the murder of his wife at the hands of a duplicitous corporate megapower, is recruited by a masked vigilante determined to bring down the very corrupt system that burned him the same way.
RSA Films is nearly 50 years in with Daly spending 17 of her 28 years with the firm as president, weighing in as producer for a number of projects including three of the eight commissioned shorts for BMW Films, as well as Joe Carnahan’s The Grey and The A-Team, and Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Apart from Kroll, Daly will produce along with Ridley Scott for Scott Free while the search for a director moves forward.
“I loved doing the BMW films, like the one Tony did, Beat The Devil, with Gary Oldman, James Brown and Clive Owen,” she said. “Those 10-minute spots were so much fun, and literally were the beginning of branded content. We did a bunch, with Joe Carnahan, Tony and John Woo, and Anonymous did them too. What this is about is, I got to learn from the best. Besides Tony and Ridley, I have worked with Kathryn Bigelow, with Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, and got to discover Neil Blomkamp and put him on a Nike or Adidas commercial when he had maybe three spots on his reel when we signed him, and Carl Rinsch, who sent me his reel in a brown paper bag when he was graduating from Brown. I got to work with all these talented filmmakers in their infancy, and now I hope to be able to work with them on movies. And working with the different generations of the Scott family is what really stands out, and now I get to continue with Ridley in this different capacity.”…
“It’s been amazing to have been part of RSA for so many years, and to work across so many different facets of advertising and entertainment with some of the most outstanding talent in the world,” Daly said. “I couldn’t be more excited to focus on making films, something I’ve always been passionate about, and to continue working alongside Scott Free.”
Said Ridley Scott: “We are very grateful to Jules for the 28 years of dedication and guidance she has given RSA. The formidable skill set she brought to RSA will serve her well as she starts this next chapter as a film producer at Big Red.”
Company veteran David Mitchell. Mitchell who has produced high-profile commercials with a raft of directors will now run RSA as managing director. Daly’s Big Red shingle lines up Nemesis with six other features, several of which may take a liking to:
Jungleland, for which Max Winkler is attached to direct, has Papillon remake actor Charlie Hunnam starring along with Jack O’Connell in a film centered on a reluctant barroom brawler and his brother and their crosscountry journey for one last fight, imperiled by a travel companion who exposes the cracks in their bond. Production begins this summer with Daly joined by Ridley Scott and Kevin Walsh in producing for Scott Free next to Brad Feinstein at Romulus Entertainment.
Upcomung Venom star Tom Hardy will headline War Party following its announcement in March with Netflix beating out several studios for its acquisition. The aforementioned Dominik will helm the pic which sees Hardy set to play a SEAL Team Six operative in a thriller that Deadline describes as one that lifts the curtain and provides a wiseguy’s guided tour through Elite combat deployment, including the rush & the crashing hangover that occurs with each life and death mission. Daly, Scott and Walsh will produce for Scott Free.
Daly will also produce Bootsie’s War, which sees upcoming Hard Powder star Liam Neeson shepherding the film set in early 90s Baghdad when four Irish plumbers are commissioned to construct the bathroom in Saddam Hussein’s bunker amidst rising tensions between America and Iraq.
Warner Bros.’ Governess is another mystery yet to be solved for which Daly will now produce at Big Red with Brad Fuller, Matthew Cohan and Michael Bay for Bay Films. Plot details remain a mystery for the film which has Hanna scribe Seth Lochead penning the script.
Read more at Deadline.
Netflix will see plenty more comic adaptations in the coming months, especially if you’re a fan of films like Kick-Ass, Logan and Kingsman: The Secret Service or any from Mark Millar’s catalogue.
Comic book creator and screenwriter Mark Millar (Kingsman, Kick-Ass) is readying another of his properties for the big screen now in the form of Empress. Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum are partnering with Millar for an adaptation of the sci-fi space opera which sees the wife of an evil dictator on a desperate mission to escape to her home world with her three children – 15 year-old Aine who wants to be with her father, 10 year-old Adam, and 18-month old Puck.
via THR:
“Nobody creates universes that translate into big movie ideas better than Millar,” said Kirschenbaum. “With Empress, he’s raised the bar yet again. Part Star Wars, part Guardians of the Galaxy and part something wholly fresh that only the amazing brain of Millar could spawn.”
Said Millar: “In terms of pure concept, this is the most ambitious story I’ve ever come up with, so it needed the most experienced producers I’ve ever been in business with. Joe Roth is a genuine Hollywood legend and Jeff Kirschenbaum was part of the team that broke every record in the book at Universal last year. Even being on the same poster as these two guys is exciting to me.”
Millar launched its first issue last month to fruition; Issue 2 releases this week. F. Scott Frazier, the current scribe of Paramount Pictures’s xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage has been attached to write the script while further details remain pending.
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