A. Heathen

There will be an end product.

Just to repeat, I'll be deleting most of the interview tomorrow.

So you'll have to buy Starlog.

(but if any Keanu Reeves ... or Frank Cappello ... fans want my copy, PM me.)

Angels gone bad having their wings ripped off = Dogma.

Having to guess card to access Midnite's club, qv answer silly questions in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Midnite's club = Angel's club.

Chaz driving Constanteen around = Clyde from "Every Which Way But Loose"

Actually not ... but here's something loosely connected ...

THE John Constantine, flanked by Peter Stormare's Satan and Tilda Swinton's Gabriel. Preliminary sketch by David Hitchcock.

Sadly you will not be able to bid on this because I have commissioned it :-P

Take the money, Ade. Tickets aren't much use to a charity.

Did you see how much they went for in the US auction ?

But seriously, Warners can donate the tickets for a screening of their choosing - they should probably hold the Premiere in Cardiff.

(Or Birmingham so the Brits here can join in.)

Aww, yer a gent, so you are (despite all our differences) ;-)

Will you be paypalling or do you prefer to pay in tickets for the mythical UK premiere ?

18 Feb. 2005 "Tears In Rain" (£55.00 -£2.35) £52.65

17 Feb. 2005 JUDITH BOOTH (£5.00 -£0.40) £4.60

16 Feb. 2005 ??? McMahon (£5.00 -£0.40) £4.60

13 Feb. 2005 ??? McMahon (£5.00 -£0.40) £4.60

07 Feb. 2005 ??? McMahon (£10.00 -£0.59) £9.41

04 Feb. 2005 Josh Greenland (£5.00 -£0.40) £4.60

30 Jan. 2005 Carmody (£12.31 -£0.62) £11.69

30 Jan. 2005 Darren Grey (£5.00 -£0.37) £4.63

30 Jan. 2005 Matthew Wharton (£10.00 -£0.54) £9.46

30 Jan. 2005 ??? McMahon (£5.00 -£0.40) £4.60

28 Jan.2005 BARBARA BRODIE (£20.00 -£0.88) £19.12

28 Jan.2005 Stephen Grindell (£5.00 -£0.37) £4.67

28 Jan.2005 Matthew Parkes (£3.00 -£0.30) £2.70

28 Jan.2005 Phillip Cooke (£4.00 -£0.34) £3.66

28 Jan.2005 Jacqueline Wheaton (£5.00 -£0.37) £4.67

28 Jan.2005 Mark? via McMahon (£10.00 -£0.59) £9.41

27 Jan.2005 Michael Dawson (£20.00 -£0.98) £19.02

27 Jan.2005 Chaz K (£10.00 -£0.59) £9.41

27 Jan.2005 Red (£10.00 -£0.59) £9.41

26 Jan.2005 James via BoM (£20.00 -£0.98) £19.02

26 Jan.2005 John McMahon (£20.00 -£0.98) £19.02

26 Jan.2005 Krix (£5.00 -£0.40) £4.60

26 Jan.2005 Lou K (£5.00 -£0.40) £4.60

TOTAL = £240.15 paid

Meaning Tom is still around a tenner short of having to review it.

Start sharpening your pencil, Tom !

Come on then, Warner Bros, put your ill-gotten money to work for good rather than evil.

(Yes, I know, my donation is not on there yet. There is a reason.)

Dave tells me they hope to have reprints of #1 at Bristol.

Full circle are doing colourisation like they did for Whitechapel Freak, I believe.

You're not wrong, Luis.

How ironic that the film changed its name to avoid confusion with Hellraiser!

From what I remember, he wants Bred in the Bone to be seperate from a five-part Staring at the Wall TPB, since Bred doesn't give a good introduction to the "Staring..." story, unlike all the horrible deaths and madness at the start of that issue.

 

He also wanted issue 200 strapped onto the , but I reckon that'd leave the Stations of the Cross TPB with a really shitty non-ending, as well as failing to wrap up the threads started in that book.

 

Ade, can you explain further?

Basically, Bred in the bone belongs at the end of Staring at the Wall, and it would not be a good end to a TPB either. Which requires a rethink of the earlier trades.

This is what I said before:

BAD TO THE BONE

The Game of Cat and Mouse #181

Black Flowers, 1 #182

Black Flowers, 2 #183

The Wild Card #184

Ordeal #185

The Pit #186

Bred in the Bone, 1 #187

Bred in the Bone, 2 #188

(I still say this sits better after Staring at the wall though.)

 

STARING AT THE WALL

Staring at the Wall, 1 #189

Staring at the Wall, 2 #190

Staring at the Wall, 3 #191

Staring at the Wall, 4 #192

Staring at the Wall, conclusion #193

 

Ward 24 #194

Out of Season, 1 #195

Out of Season, 2 #196

 

BORN IN HELL

Stations of the Cross, 1 #197

Stations of the Cross, 2 #198

Stations of the Cross, 3 #199

Happy Families #200

Event Horizon #201

 

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 1 #202

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 2 #203

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 3 #204

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 4 #205

Chas SMASH! (ie Cross Purposes) #206

On reflection, Bred in the bone *could* sit at the end of staring at the wall, with the final page cut out, but it's a shit ending for a book. But it leads into Stations of the Cross.

There's similar problems with Event Horizon being at the end of "Born in Hell" /beginning of "Reasons to be Cheerful". John's a bit too close to his old self in that story, although I reckon the amulet will have a role to play in the demise of The Kids from Flames so it can't really go anywhere else.

My new running/breaking order is

RUNAROUND

The Game of Cat and Mouse #181

Black Flowers, 1 #182

Black Flowers, 2 #183

The Wild Card #184

Ordeal #185

The Pit #186

STARING AT THE WALL

Staring at the Wall, 1 #189

Staring at the Wall, 2 #190

Staring at the Wall, 3 #191

Staring at the Wall, 4 #192

Staring at the Wall, conclusion #193

Bred in the Bone, 1 #187

Bred in the Bone, 2 #188

FAMILY VALUES

Ward 24 #194

Out of Season, 1 #195

Out of Season, 2 #196

Stations of the Cross, 1 #197

Stations of the Cross, 2 #198

Stations of the Cross, 3 #199

Happy Families #200

SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXTERMINATION

Event Horizon #201

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 1 #202

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 2 #203

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 3 #204

Reasons to be Cheerful, part 4 #205

Chas SMASH! (ie Cross Purposes) #206

No but a poorly cropped version of Constanteen can if you know where to look.

I don't know, because that's not my sort of thing, but I know it's there.

#10 of 10

Please state your other reason.

This is also the place to discuss any of the other categories, you know, stuff like "I wanted to vote '4' in the Shia category !"

#9 of 10

#8 of 10

#7 of 10

#6 of 10

#5 of 10

NB if you love Shia's hot little body, then vote "meaningless"

#4 of 10

NB, if you don't know what the redemption thing is all about, please read the appropriate threads ! They are legion !

#3 of 10

NB, vote "meaningless" if Keanu prejudices you FOR the film !

#2 of 10

#1 of 10

After Kevin Brodbin's assertion that he wanted Constanteen to be a bloke conning wealthy collectors with fake relics (something barely alluded to in the finished film) it occurs to me that would have made the film a bit of a rip-off of Johnny Depp's "Ninth Gate".

But we know there are plenty of rip...erm... homages in Constanteen, so let's compile a list. No discussion is necessary in this thread, just list the similarities you have noticed when watching the film.

I'll start, from my in-depth reading of the book, script and (ugh) comic adaptation:

The Exorcist - a conscious reference according to Cappello.

Van Helsing / James Bond films - the script says "like Bond's Q" but Beeman is more like Colin out of Van Helsing.

Devil's Advocate - Keanu vs The Devil (or son of the)

Los Angeles - End of Days.

It's A Wonderful Life - Chaz gets his wings.

Now, you ...

Nah, copyright ;-)

“My whole argument for making him British was that if you’re aiming for a PG13 – which I don’t agree with, I think this film should be an R – and John is English, I could have him use all sorts of cuss words that are British slang but would pass in a PG13 movie. I could have used terms like ‘bloody’ and ‘wanker’ which are really colourful.

Tosser.

“But John [Constanteen] not being British is a silly reason not to see the movie,” he adds.

I agree with this. Good job there are so many other reasons.

In my version, there were three devils, similar to the three spirits in one Christ – three devils in one Devil – but it was thought that might be too confusing. So that changed. In my script, the relic was one of the nine inch nails used to crucify Christ, but Mark came up with the Spear of Destiny. It’s now somewhere between the two; it’s only the top of the Spear, so it’s almost like a nine-inch nail.”

Or a nine-inch spearhead ?

When Cappello mentions pentagrams and candles, do you think he is considering how many genre films have used the spear of destiny and other crucifixion relics?

A friend of mine said that if the child from The Sixth Sense grew up into a mouthy, chain-smoking, hard-drinking guy who hides his emotions behind acerbic wit and acting selfish, that would be John Constanteen !”

I wish I'd said that.

Oh, I did.

Warner Bros would like to turn Constanteen into a franchise, which is a thought that delights Cappello. “When they start talking about a sequel, I get excited!” he enthuses.

Frank Cappello - the John Constantine of Hollywood Writers !

My little sound-bite was that Constantine is ‘the rock and roll star of the occult’; he’s an exorcist who doesn’t do it for religious reasons. It’s almost an extreme sport for him. Constantine doesn’t want to care about people, but can’t help himself.

That's almost a perfect summary of Constantine for beginners.

I have no doubt that Brodbin really has the fandom he claims to have, but we all know what Hollywood does (qv The Player) to people.

Most of the characters I introduced are still in there, like Angela, the female detective, and Balthazar, the demon; and Father Hennessy [Pruitt Taylor Vince] made it in as well. They’re all there. Papa Midnite [Djimon Hounsou] is from the comic book, and [co-writer] Frank Cappello brought in Chaz [shia LeBeouf], Constanteen’s young apprentice. Francis did an amazing job of casting all of the people around Constanteen. The minute I heard that he cast Tilda Swinton as the angel Gabriel, I was like ‘Cool move!’ And having Gavin Rossdale of Bush as Balthazar is great – he’s really slick, creepy and good at the same time!”

Frank Cappello comes over as thoughtful in his recent posts on Superhero Hype and back when he was defending the film on the DC forum, but HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CHAZ !!!

I was working with [producer] Lauren Shuler Donner on other things when Warner Bros asked me to read the script. It was okay but it felt very Indiana Jones-ish, with lots of action-adventure elements – people shooting each other in Chinatown. I didn’t know if I wanted to do it, but they sent me two of the Hellblazer graphic novels, Fear and Loathing and Dangerous Habits, and when I read the actual comics, I flipped out. I said ‘Oh my God, this is a character I’ve never seen!’ Constantine is an irreverent guy. The closest thing to him in America would be Denis Leary – a guy who doesn’t give a damn about anybody but himself. But I thought that Constantine wasn’t captured in the script, and that the story shouldn’t be about plot – it should be about character.

"I did not have action-adventure relations with that film".

Part of me wishes they HAD made that far-removed version of Constanteen, because every time they remind us that it is supposed to be Hellblazer, the film will annoy me.

Dangerous Habits is about John dying of cancer, because he has smoked all his life, and how he saves himself. Many of those ideas were in the comic. I even put a scene back in between John and Gabriel that people who have read the comic and the script have said “My God, it’s like you took it verbatim [from Hellblazer].’ The gist of it is exactly the same, because why throw out what already works?

Why indeed ?

In the comic, John has ghosts that follow him around,” he says. “You can’t really have that in a movie; it would look hokey.

Hokey like an angelic Chaz? Or like a chewing gum stick? Or perhaps a Holy Shotgun?

But really, see a japanese film with ghosts (The Eye or Ju-On for starters) and perhaps Hollywood can learn.

So I invented things for this screenplay, like John’s past and how he got the ability to do magic. In the comic, he just learns it. I thought there had to be some spark somewhere, so there’s a flashback to when he was a child.

How John Constanteen comes by his powers aka The Secret Origin.

But John Constantine learns his powers as an escape from an abusive home life, and because he is a cocky scouse kid who thinks he is the only one who can do it.

Also, there may be a hereditary mystical role - although that one is hard to show in a couple of minutes flashback.