It’s been a good couple of weeks for geek-savvy filmmakers getting involved in comic book films – with Guillermo del Toro sealing a deal for Deadman, Sam Raimi announcing that he has the rights to reignite The Shadow’s film career and now Robert Rodriguez bringing his singular sensibility to Michael Allred’s comic Madman.
The Grindhouse helmer won’t be directing (he’s too busy on 50 other projects, including Sin City 2, on which he’s working as director/writer/composer/cook/dog sitter), but he will be producing. Dimension Films have instead hired Swimming With Sharks writer George Huang to write and direct the movie itself.
Madman’s plot finds a bloke killed in a nasty car accident that gets a second chance at life via a weird doctor who names his creation Frank Einstein and gifts him all sorts of psychic powers and extra strength. Sadly, the mad medic can’t help our hero’s mangled mush so he dresses him up as his favourite superhero and sends him off to fight crime.
Huang will shoot the film at Rodriguez’ Texas studio, and will apparently be using a lot of the green screen techniques perfected by the director for the first Sin City outing, while Allred will also be involved in the movie. "George has always had a really great grasp of the books, and Michael is just about the coolest guy you'll ever meet," Rodriguez told Variety. "His Madman comics are nothing short of visionary."
