Jake Gyllenhaal Will Play John Prophet in the Film Adaptation of PROPHET
Jake Gyllenhaal is set to star in the feature film adaptation of the Rob Liefeld’s comic book Prophet with Extraction filmmaker Sam Hargrave directing. Gyllenhaal will be taking on the lead role of John Prophet, which is an interesting choice.
John Prophet is a man “conscripted by Germans near the end of World War II and subjected to scientific experiments that gave him superhuman strength.”
In the film, “John Prophet volunteers for a German experiment near the end of World War II in order to feed his family. After a bombing buries him alive and traps him underground for 20 years, he reawakens in 1965, where things are not great for Prophet. The world has moved on without him, his daughter resents him, and KGB agents are after him to create super-soldiers from his blood.”
Marc Guggenheim, who has worked on The CW’s Arrowverse TV shows, is writing the script with Studio 8 producing. Studio 8 CEO Jeff Robinov said in a statement:
“It’s been a goal of ours to work with Jake and Sam for quite some time, so we’re very excited to finally be collaborating with them on this unique, action-packed genre film. I’m looking forward to seeing what they envision for bringing this story to life — a story we’re sure will stand out in the comic book world as a powerful, emotionally charged and visually distinctive film.”
The story of John Prophet is a good one, and it has potential to make for a solid film franchise if done right. Here’s a more details breakdown of the character John Prophet and his story:
John Prophet, a poor and homeless man living in the World War II era, volunteered to participate in the medical experiments of Dr. Horatio Wells, a time-traveling scientist from the future who used DNA-enhancing methods to transform Prophet into a supersoldier. Prophet was engineered to serve the evil Phillip Omen and programmed with murderous instincts. Wells had a change of heart though and changed Prophet's programming from evil to a strong belief in God. Wells planned for Prophet to be placed into stasis for many years and then re-emerge in the future to help Wells's people fight the evil Disciples. Eventually found by Youngblood, Prophet awakens disoriented, in a world he does not recognize, and he mistakes Youngblood for the Disciples and attacks.
It was later discovered that Prophet was not always in stasis after World War II, and had been used as "a mindless weapon of war" in Vietnam. Stephen Platt, Prophet artist from 1994 to 1996, explained that the character "feel[s] responsible for the things that people forced him to do, even though he can't remember them. He's always thought of himself as a good person, and now he's discovering that the things he did were hideous by all standards of human decency. He's going to [...] take a spiritual journey to discover who he really is."
Despite his enhanced DNA and ability to communicate in all languages, Prophet was described as "very childlike" by Platt. "He doesn't know the social workings of the world that most of us take for granted: he can't hail a cab, and he eats ice cream too fast and gets a headache.”
It’ll be interesting to see how this character ends up being reimagined for the big screen in live action with Gyllenhaal in the role. What do you all think about Gyllenhaal taking on the role of John Prophet?
Source: THR