Todd McFarlane Says His SPAWN Movie Will Be a Hard R Movie and Go Beyond What DEADPOOL Did

Todd McFarlane is at NYCC this weekend to promote his upcoming Spawn film and a few other things. During an early press event that Deadline attended, he offered some more comments on what he's going for.

He said that the movie will be "dark and R-rated", which isn't new. He's said that several times before. But, this time he added that it won't be like Deadpool-type R-rated movie “with a couple F-bombs and a couple bare asses.” No, he reiterated again that "It’s going to be dark,” and explained that the movie will be a realistic drama that plays on fear.

“I will have a shark in black water and if you’re swimming he will come and you’ll be gone and he will f*ck you up.”

That's great! That sounds exciting! But, we all know that it's not the rating that makes a film good. He can get as crazy as he wants and show shit that will make audiences cringe, but what's the point if the story isn't solid? That's the important thing. The story comes first and if going rated R serves the story being told like it did in Logan... awesome! 

McFarlane, who is directing the film, also said that he will post daily Facebook updates while Spawn is in production to show his fans what he'll be doing. I like it when directors are candid like that and have fun with the development of their projects. Ron Howard has been very involved with social media since he's been shooting the Han Solo film and fans are loving it. 

It was recently revealed that Spawn is being shot on such a low budget and McFarlane, the producers, and the actors won't be paid up front. That way, they can get more out of the budget to put into the film. I'm sure they will get paid a percentage on the back end, so they will make money in the end. 

McFarlane has no experience directing a feature film, and when a member from the audience asked why he thinks he can direct this movie, this was his response: 

“I didn’t use to draw comic books and I drew comic books and I won awards. I don’t know how to read music and I have a Grammy Award. I’m spending my own money so who cares if it doesn’t work out. It’s a $10 million budget movie, and (a studio) would just get a 22-year-old punk director. I just want to be the old punk directing it.”

Hey, it's his money! He can do what he wants! As for why he needed a studio to help back him, all he needed was a distribution and marketing. He explains:

“The only things we need from them are distribution and marketing. We don’t need your input, we don’t need your cash, we don’t need your creativity – and they don’t like those deals. They always want the budget to go up because then they have to put money in it and then they own it.”

Blumhouse Pictures gave him everything that the other studios wouldn't. It's going to be really, really interesting to see how this Spawn movie turns out! Either McFarlane is going to give us a shit film or he's going to give us some amazing that we never expected from him. I'm hoping for the later.