Niles spills the beans
Fans waiting for the pill-poppin’ private investigator Cal McDonald to carry his noirish cases from comic book to the big screen may get one mutha’-load of an announcement soon.
“We’ll probably be announcing a director [for ‘Criminal Macabre’] within a month,” Cal creator Steve Niles revealed at the Festival of Fear’s 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails panel.
Criminal Macabre based on the mini-series of the same name published by Dark Horse Comics, was originally set up at MGM with scribe Bragi Schut adapting.
Niles says “a” script went through two studios, both insistent on removing the film’s drug references. “Instead of the old Philip Marlowe, who’s a recovering alcoholic, [Cal] is a recovering junkie. That’s all. Recovering,” laughs Niles. Still, creative execs didn’t jive with that. “It’s not like Cheech & Chong, endorsing [drugs]. So, I’ve had to yank it from the studios who wanted to sanitize it.”
Niles didn’t divulge where the project is set up now, however, he added, “I had a director approach me at San Diego [Comic-Con], he was there promoting another movie. Hopefully we’ll be announcing [his involvement] soon.”
Also in the writer’s future? A crack at directing. He says he’s hoping to adapt some of his own works, including the zombies-in-Vegas actioner “Remains.”
Source: Ryan Rotten
