‘The Goon’ Update: ‘Deadpool’ Might Help This Animated Comic Book Movie Finally Get Made
Almost eight years ago directorDavid Fincheroptioned the movie rights toEric Powell’s Dark Horse comic book seriesThe Goon, which started back in 1999. Over the years, Blur’s animated project has struggled to acquire financing. Back in 2013, after asuccessful Kickstarter campaign, Powell said the comic book adaptationwas still moving forward. The few hundred ground went towards paying for a feature-length story reel, which was meant to attract financiers. Since then, we’ve heard very little.
The Goonhas been in development long enough that some may have forgotten thatDeadpooldirector,Tim Miller, is co-directing the film. Well, Miller finally has an update onThe Goondevelopment.
Part of the reason whyThe Goonhas had a tough time getting made is because it’s a PG-13 animated film aimed more towards adults. Some financiers and studios, of course, consider that risky. After the success ofDeadpool, though, perhaps Miller’s name alone could give the project a much-needed boost.
Colliderrecently spoke with the co-director, and they asked him for an update on the project. Here’s what he had to say:
Post-Deadpool, Miller confirmsThe Goonhas started to gain more traction. He says there has been “a number of calls now,” and then he recounted the experience of pitching the project to studios with co-directorJeff Fowlerand the rest of the team:
Before we did our Kickstarter, we did a whole round with the studios, so we went down, Jeff and me, sometimes Fincher, sometimes Josh Donnen, and we went to all the studios and did our pitch for The Goon. We had a really beautiful pitch, we had a test piece, we had our book, we had all this stuff and at that time it was a $50 million project and we couldn’t get anybody to bite. Everybody loved it, but nobody would do it. So we went back and reworked the price a little bit and decided we were gonna take it out again, and right before we did that this demand to do a Kickstarter came up and then we said, ‘Okay fuck it, we’ll wait, we’ll do the Kickstarter, and then we can literally show executives the whole film. Here’s the film, you don’t have to listen to me tell you what it’s going to be, you can see what it’s going to be.’ And that’s what we did.
All involved are still working hard to get this movie made. In fact, just last week Miller and Fowler re-recorded some voice-over work for the 85-minute-long animatic the Kickstarter campaign funded.
The Goonis still set to starClancy BrownandPaul Giamatti, but Miller added they’re recording next week with a “very prominent movie star.” You can head over to Collider for more details, but theDeadpooldirector sounded more hopeful than ever about the project.
Anyone out there still eagerly anticipatedThe Goon?
