EXCLUSIVE: Todd McFarlane Is Finished with New Spawn Movie Script

Todd McFarlane has been talking about a new Spawn movie for a few years now, but he told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview that 2016 is the year he makes it happen. At Toy Fair New York, McFarlane sat down and talked toys, branching out, and his first love, Spawn.

"I've finished the script, and I'm in the process of editing," McFarlane told ComicBook when asked for an update. "It's 183 pages, and [producers] usually like 120. I still think it's going to end up being about 140, because I'm putting in details for myself."

That's because McFarlane also hopes to direct the film, so he's writing the script as "a director's script." The trimming is still necessary so he can get it to "a spot where I can walk this into Hollywood and start hooking the actors," he said.

The writer/artist/creator/toy magnate wants to direct the film, and is trying to keep the budget low because of it.

"I want to keep it small, keep it tight, so they'll let me direct it!" he said. His goal is to see production start in 2016. "I need to get him back up on the big screen again to make him relevant in a big way, which we will do," he said.

McFarlane will also be releasing his first Spawn action figure in a few years, as part of his new "Color Tops" line, which will see waves of figures from different brands like Gears of War and Assassin's Creed released alongside his own Spawn and his popular The Walking Dead figures.

“I’m curious to see what happens when we go, ‘Spawn’s back and there’s only one,’ to see if we can get a little stampede, get people interested,” he said of the new figure.

EXCLUSIVE: Next Spawn Movie Will Not Be Superhero or Action Film, McFarlane Says

Todd McFarlane is going full steam ahead on a new Spawn movie, but it's going to be very different from any interpretation of the character seen before. In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com at Toy Fair New York, McFarlane revealed his new take on the film. He has finished the screenplay, and is currently editing it down before shopping it around Hollywood.

McFarlane opened up for the first time about the type of movie he's hoping to make, and it's a new take on Spawn altogether. Of course, the movie will be "a hard R," he assures fans, but he said it won't be a superhero, or even an action movie.

"I'd put it more into horror/suspense/supernatural genre," McFarlane told ComicBook. "If you take the movie The Departed meets Paranormal Activity, something like that."

The goal is to make Spawn as a character something entirely unique in the world of the new film.

"In the background, there’s this thing moving around, this boogeyman. That boogeyman just happens to be something that you and I, intellectually, know is Spawn," he explained. "Will he look like he did in the first movie? No. Will he have a supervillain he fights? No. He’s going to be the spectre, the ghost."

He likens Spawn's presence in the new movie to that of the lurking evil in Japanese horror films (and their Hollywood remakes) like The Grudge or The Ring.

"I think they all work because there’s only one thing in the movie that’s not normal. There’s not five things, there’s one thing that’s the boogeyman. So that’ll be Spawn," he said. "He’s this thing that just whooshes in, this ghost that moves and will f*** you up if you’re in the wrong place in the wrong time, and the rest of the movie will look real, and be this real drama. He’s just this ghost, this thing behind it."

It's a take on the character, moving even farther from the superhero comics that birthed it, that McFarlane has been wanting to explore for awhile, but it also has a practical application.

"Basically, I can make this version of the movie on a budget without crazy special effects," he said with a slight chuckle. "I want to keep it small, keep it tight, so they'll let me direct it!"

It’s official: after years of development, Todd McFarlane is getting another Spawn movie off the ground. Interestingly enough, McFarlane will be directing the movie himself at Blumhouse Productions.

McFarlane revealed through his Facebook that his Image Comics anti-hero is officially getting a new cinematic interpretation over twenty years after the release of the original movie. Spawn will be his directorial debut for a feature film, as his previous directing credits are all based on music videos (Pearl Jam’s “Do the Evolution”, Korn’s “Freak on a Leash”, and Disturbed’s cover of the Genesis song “Land of Confusion”) — all of which were entirely or partially animated.