Sam Mendes no longer Directing PREACHER he'll Focus on BOND 23

 

Sam Mendes has been attached to direct the film adaptation of Garth Ennis’ comicbook series preacher since the beginning of the year, and he’s been slowly developing it. But now according to producer Neal H. Moritz, Mendes in no longer involved, he’s left the project to put all his time and energy into developing Bond 23.

According to Moritz, there were no real issues with the production, Mendes just had to make a decision, and he chose James Bond over Preacher. I guess there's not right or wrong choice here because they both seem like awesome film projects. He goes on to talk about the Preacher script written by John August saying,

We’ve got a great script. John August wrote a script that I think is terrific. The hardest thing was with all the books-the Preacher books-was how to distill it down.  And what he made the smart decision instead of trying to cram everything into one, there’s plenty of room for 2 or 3 movies. So that’s what he’s done and he’s done a really faithful adaption but made it probably more accessible to a broader audience right now. That movie’s definitely R-rated and it’s an amazing central character.

So they are definitely planning on the film being a franchise, but who will they get to direct it? The studio is currently talking to some “lofty” directors, but if none of them works out, there is a possibility that the writer of the film John August could end up directing. Mortiz told him they’d “talk about it.” For those of you who don't know august directed an interesting little film a few years ago called The Nines.

I was pretty excited that Mendes was going to direct the film, but I’m also excited to see what he’s got planned with James Bond. Lets just hope Preacher gets itself a decent director.