Fri Nov 7, 2008 — by Robert Greenberger

Sam Mendes Seeks 'Preacher' Script

Director at Early Stages of Adaptation

Director Sam Mendes chatted briefly with Empire Magazine about adapting Preacher for the screen.

He is a lot less far along than one would imagine based on his comments. “This is a typical Variety announcement,” Mendes told the British publication. “‘Mendes to direct Preacher’ – I wish! Basically they should have written, ‘Mendes in development with Preacher’. What I’m doing is, I’ve gotta find a script. I’ve just got to get it written.”

Mendes is drawn to the story of Jesse Custer, a Texas preacher who was given the Word of the Lord but seeks out the Creator who apparently has abandoned his post in Heaven. He’s accompanied by a former killer, Tulip, and Cassidy, an unrepentant vampire. The series ran over five years for Vertigo, written and drawn by the team of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. All the covers were painted by Glenn Fabry.

A feature film or television series has been in development for years and recently HBO dropped their plans which allowed Columbia to obtain the rights and sign the director of American Beauty.

“It's brilliant, it's an incredible twisted vision,” he said. “There's so much of it you couldn't possibly fit it all into one movie. It's just about what you keep and what you leave out, and how you structure the story. But just to have that toy set again, being able to paint on a big canvas and to say ‘I am gonna do crazy crane shots and massive action sequences again because I want to,’ it's exciting.”

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