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This could
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Finally running that Donald
Swan interview paid off, because just yesterday Timely Studios
head of marketing Jennith Olson sent us this look at the Codename:
Courage one-sheet that's due to hit theater lobbies this
summer. The film itself has been pushed back from a projected
July 2003 release to July 2004.
In case you'd lost track (and after some of the tumult and conflicting stories out of San Diego this summer, it's easy to do), here's what we know about this updating of the golden age hero, Commander Courage.
Writer Peter David, no stranger to controversy in comics, did a radical re-think of the character a few years ago, giving it the Codename: Courage appellation. At one point, it was rumored that David would be adapting his run for the film, which would have been a big break for his screenwriting career.
Though David has worked on a couple of television series,
his feature work up to now has been limited to direct-to-video
work for Full Moon, including Trancers 4 and 5
and the Oblivion space westerns. Fun stuff, but unfortunately
not exactly a straight path to being a power player in Hollywood.
In truth, David wasn't asked. A shame, really, because by
all accounts he had an interesting take on the character.
One fan favorite who was asked, however, is the man
without sleep, Kevin Smith. One of Timely's best-kept secrets,
just now leaking around the internet, is that Smith dabbled
with an early draft around the same time he worked on The
Six Million Dollar Man redo. Just like his ill-fated Superman
work, that script now gathers dust on a Timely shelf.
So should we give up hope? Not necessarily. Though official
casting has not yet been announced, we can confirm that fan
favorite Bruce Campbell is the leading contender to don the
skullcap of Commander Courage. And has there been an actor
more deserving of a superhero franchise? (Or at least more
deserving than Nicolas Cage?)
After reading his interview, Donald Swan kindly sent us a Quicktime clip from the upcoming documentary, in which he and Campbell talk about the character. It's quite possible that The Chin drops a couple of other casting clues, too.
Download the 2 Mb file here.
The big question right now is what all of Hollywood must
be asking: is this really the time for a hero whose motivations
lie so heavily in war? Offer your opinion in the
forum.
