Update On The Upcoming The Boys Movie Adaptation..

I had only heard rumors of this being in development but apparently its fairly rocketing along if this news is anything to go by.

The Boys was optioned by Jason Netter’s Kickstart Productions, who produced the adaptation of Mark Millar’s Wanted and have been developing Ennis’ Preacher(yeah, so where is it eh eh??), and it’s being developed by Neal Moritz for Columbia Pictures. The screenplay is being written by Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay and Superherohype asked them what the progress is with the movie so far...

“That’s one that’s like a total dream project for us because we’re such huge fans of the book and of Garth Ennis, Said Phil Hay. “It’s just been amazing. Neal Moretz, the producer over there, and the studio have been great because they actually really do get what makes the comic book special, and we’re talking to directors on that now, too, so that would be just amazing, and it’s something that’s very close to our hearts.”

“When we began, we got on the phone and spent a lot of time talking to him,”(Ennis) Matt Manfredi said.

“First of all, he’s such a cool guy,” Hay jumped in.

“Awesome guy and he kind of gave us his blessing to take it where we needed to take it. He said, ‘Don’t be too precious. Feel free to… if you need to kill someone, kill someone.’ Obviously we love love love the books, and the overarching storyline had yet to be finished, so we said, ‘Well, we think this is where it’s going, as we right? Is this going to happen to this character?’ and he was like, ‘You’re close, don’t worry about it. Do what you have to do.’ It wasn’t in a dismissive way, it was in a very generous way.”

“Yeah, and I think ultimately we ended up with the script that we have now,” Hay concluded, “which I think is actually quite faithful version of ‘The Boys’ and then the stuff that’s new hopefully very much fits into the world. In short, he was really great, because he understands I think what it is to adapt something, but I think he also sensed from us that we knew and loved his work in and out and we’re going to find a way to get that up on the screen.”



When asked if The Boys would jettison the super hero element like Wanted did... “This is very faithful to the characters,” Manfredi replied. “We kept all the superheroes and we kept all the characters from ‘The Boys’ and we’ve peppered in a few new ones, but in general, we’re pretty faithful to the book.”

When asked whether they might approach Simon Pegg to play Wee Hughie, who was sketched to look pretty much exactly like the English actor.. “I feel you’ve gotta go for it. He’s Wee Hughie!”

“That’s how he was drawn!” Manfredi confirmed.

“What’s really interesting is that we’ve heard there’s a lot of amazing actors that happen to be huge fans of ‘The Boys’ so it would be amazing to get some of these guys in the cast who really get it, and who really know exactly what’s going on, but we’ll see how that plays out along the way, but Simon Pegg is amazing."

Last I heard Pegg said he would jump at the chance to pay Hughie, but said he didn't see it happening..well there you go Simon! Get on the dog n bone. If you haven't read The Boys and are not easily offended then do yourself a favor and pick up a trade. I don't think its as good as Preacher myself(what is?) but its still a total riot!



For the uninitiated The Boys is set in a contemporary world very much similar to the real one, with one notable exception: a number of people have some form of superpower. The series follows a superpowered CIA squad, known informally as "The Boys", whose job it is to keep watch on superheroes and, if necessary, intimidate or kill them. Ennis has said that the series will "out-Preacher Preacher", presumably referring to the extreme violence and sexuality that were that series' hallmark..and in that respect it did , no question.

Thanks to Superherohype/Craveonline for the info:)