Vincenzo Natali Shares Art, Pages from Unproduced Swamp Thing, Neuromancer

In just over a week on Twitter, filmmaker Vincenzo Natali has quickly become a fascinating follow. While promoting his work on Hannibal, Natali has taken to sharing some of the best stuff an artist can. There are storyboards, concept art and animatics from the likes of Hannibal, Haunter, Splice, Cypher and Cube; he displays his taste, recommending The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears and Sorcerer; and, perhaps best of all, reveals work from films-that-never-were, including William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Swamp Thing.

It’s the work from Neuromancer and Swamp Thing that has many simultaneously excited and saddened. Natali seems a stellar fit for both the seminal cyberpunk novel and a new take on Swamp Thing, the script pages of which recall Alan Moore’s touchstone work on the title. For the latter, Natali shared the first four pages from his “aborted” script. The opening adapts bits from Moore’s first issue of “Saga of the Swamp Thing” with Sunderland Corporation mercenaries hunting the Alec Holland-turned-plant creature. Sunderland makes an appearance, as well, much like in the pages of Moore’s “Loose Ends.”

I am admittedly far less familiar with Neuromancer, for which he also shared four script pages and a selection of concept art by Tsutomu Nihei. Fans will likely find plenty to admire, however, like illustration of the Kuang Grade Mark Eleven penetration program.

This is to say Natali is a filmmaker to follow. In addition to helming the first three episodes of Hannibal’s third season, he’ll also be directing an adaptation of the Stephen King & Joe Hill-penned story In the Tall Grass. If you’ve not read it, get your hands on that visceral piece of work.