Movies
Vincenzo Natali Talks Dark Desire to Bring ‘Swamp Thing’ Back to the Big Screen
I’m not exactly sure the actual context of this conversation as I can’t get the video to play for the life of me, but apparently Cube and Splice director Vincenzo Natali is looking to take his dark storytelling to Silver Pictures as he’d like to(?) take on the latest incarnation of Swamp Thing, once rumored to be coming in 3-D. Is this a campaign piece or is something real going down? Check out what he had to say below and you tell us.
Speaking with MTV News during this weekend’s WonderCon in San Francisco, Natali said he’d love to make a “Swamp Thing” movie based on Alan Moore’s classic run of the series.
“There are two incarnations of Swamp Thing — both of them are quite wonderful,” said Natali. “The first one was by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, which was a more traditional sort of retake on classic, James Whale-style, Universal Studio horror films. Then Alan Moore reinvented the character in the early ’80s, and that’s actually the version that’s a little more interesting to me.”
“[Swamp Thing] kind of became… I don’t want to call him an ecological superhero, but he became an ecological character quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen before,” he explained. “It’s a comic book, but it delves into some very interesting stuff, both psychological and philosophical.”
It was reported last August Joel Silver’s Silver Pictures would be bringing the creature back to the big screen in 3-D. This is a project they’ve had in development for FIVE years now, but hopefully we’ll see some progress soon.
The story begins when a toxic chemical transforms a research scientist into a monstrous mass of vegetation.
Fangoria Studios and Panick Studios are turning horror comic Black Diamond into a film, and Variety reports that Ernest Dickerson (Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight) will direct.
Black Diamond comic book creator Brendan Columbus will write the screenplay.
Black Diamond follows Owen and Victoria Welch on a family ski trip that spirals into a nightmare. When their son is abducted by a mysterious cult, the couple is pushed to the brink and faced with a soul-crushing ultimatum: sacrifice another child or lose their own forever.
The comic book series from Panick Entertainment is described as a “chilling folk horror thriller blending Hitchcockian psychological tension with the dread of The Wicker Man.”
“Black Diamond was my attempt to put everything I love about thrillers on the page,” Columbus tells Variety. “I want to make sure it feels like you physically can’t leave the theater or else you’ll miss the next twist or turn. With his masterful cinematic eye and his great story sense, Ernest is going to scare the hell out of everyone with this one.”
“Black Diamond immediately grabbed me because its horror is rooted in impossible human choices,” says Dickerson. “It taps into parental fear, morality, isolation, and survival in a way that is so unsettling and emotionally real. That combination will make for a very suspenseful and exciting cinematic experience.”
Ernest Dickerson is directing and executive producing the feature film. Black Diamond will notably be Ernest Dickerson’s first feature film as director since Double Play in 2017, though he has in more recent years been directing for an impressive string of television shows including “The Man in the High Castle,” “The Purge,” “Raised by Wolves,” “Bosch,” and “DMZ.”
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