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Spawn: Scott Silver, Malcolm Spellman, Matthew Mixom For The Script

The big Spawn movie news finally dropped, and it's news that another aspect of the production has changed. Spawn was a launch title for Image Comics and was created by Todd McFarlane in 1992. Spawn is one of the most 90s comic things that wasn't drawn by Rob Liefeld and was made into a notoriously panned and goofy movie in 1997. In 2015, MacFarlane announced that a script for a new film was complete, and in 2017, Blumhouse and McFarlane announced that they were in development for a hard R-rated Spawn movie. However, things have been extremely quiet on the development of the film ever since. If there is something you can confidently say lives in development hell, it's this Spawn movie that McFarlane has been talking about for forever. In May 2018, Jamie Foxx was announced as the title character, but it wasn't until August 2021 that McFarlane released some aspects of the movie to others; he intended to direct, write, and produce, with the announcement that Broken City writer Brian Tucker was rewriting the script. All has been quiet until McFarlane announced that big news was going to drop yesterday and then was delayed to today because sometimes real life has fantastic comedic timing.

Spawn Taps Scott Silver, Malcom Spellman, Matthew Mixom For The Script
Spawn #1. Credit: Image Comics

A Writing Dream Team For Spawn

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tucker is out as the writer, but they aren't just bringing in one person to replace him. The production is bringing in Scott Silver, who worked on Joker, a movie whose success was cited as a reason why there was renewed interest in Spawn; Malcolm Spellman, the creator behind The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and he was just hired to write Captain America 4, and Matthew Mixom, the more unknown of the three who came up in documentaries. That is quite the little dream team they have put together, and Spellman, in particular, said in a statement that Spawn was one of his favorites.

"I grew up in Berkeley, which is a comic book city. Todd McFarlane's SPAWN character was always one of my favorites — a Black superhero that was no bullshit, he was cool and dealt with modern issues," says Spellman in a statement. "Myself, Matt Mixon, and Scott Silver are pledged to honoring what Todd started and what SPAWN is at its core, delivering something that's relevant and edgy and unlike any other superhero movie out there."

For a little while, you could have called Spawn an auteur project because McFarlane intended to write, direct, and produce. However, all of the delays and the big names attached to the script seem like they could have changed McFarlane's mind about making this his big-screen directing debut.

"If we've got an A-list actor, A-list producers, A-list writers, then do you want to shoot for A-list directors, A-list cinematographers?" McFarlane tells The Hollywood Reporter. "The answer is, 'of course.' Let's keep the momentum going."

The 'Forever In Production' Spawn Movie Gets a New Writer
October 31, 2015: Todd McFarlane, Canadian cartoonist, during Comikaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Editorial credit: betto rodrigues / Shutterstock.com

Currently, Foxx is still attached to the project, but Jeremy Renner, the only other attached name to this project, is unknown. We'll have to see if anything changes. With three people working on the script, there must be movement. Surely this movie will see the light of day with this much caliber attached to it? Let's not think about films with massive caliber not seeing the light of day, what happened at another studio in August, and see if Spawn can finally free himself from this circle of development hell.


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Kaitlyn BoothAbout Kaitlyn Booth

Kaitlyn is the Editor-in-Chief at Bleeding Cool. She loves movies, television, and comics. She's a member of the UFCA and the GALECA. Feminist. Writer. Nerd. Follow her on Twitter @katiesmovies and @safaiagem on Instagram.
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