Fans of the animated Spawn series that aired for three seasons on HBO during the late ’90s can look forward to all-new adult-oriented superhero adventures from famed comic-book and toy tycoon Todd McFarlane. We recently spoke with McFarlane, who is busy at work on the new Spawn series, produced by IDT Ent. and its subsidiary, DPS/Film Roman. The show will feature the voices of Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Keith David (The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury), Carl Weathers (Predator), Michael Jai White (live-action Spawn feature), Bruce Boxleitner (Star Trek: Babylon 5), Clancy Brown (Carnivale), Cree Summer (Star Wars: Clone Wars) and Phil LaMarr (Samurai Jack).
McFarlane says 2006 will be the year Spawn gets put back on the map. A new art and writing team has been assembled to take the comic books in a whole new creative direction, and a full line of toys is being designed for collectors. McFarlane has also scripted a sequel to the 1997 live-action movie, which he plans to produce on a modest budget. But what has us most jazzed is more anime-inspired ass kicking from a supernatural caped crusader who makes the Dark Knight look like a PowerPuff Girl.
The new animated series doesn’t have a broadcast home yet, but it is first being produced as a 90-minute feature that will be distributed on DVD through IDT’s Anchor Bay no matter what. HBO will get the first crack at a series of weekly installments.
"TV is sometimes adverse to bringing back shows," says McFarlane, "but the way we would re-sell it on HBO is to just treat it like a sequel. I always find it amusing that you can’t bring a TV show because people think you’re bringing back a failure. But you bring back a movie eight years later and people go, ‘Oh my God, a sequel!’"
Perhaps the Home Box Office will be inspired by Fox’s success with bringing back Family Guy and hatch another round of Spawn adventures that promises to be bigger and badder. "One of the things we’re able to do now is actually use CG, but in a way that makes sense," McFarlane reveals, explaining that the goal is to combine 2D character animation with CG background and prop elements a la Disney’s Tarzan. "You’re allowed to then do those good camera perspectives that you normally wouldn’t be able to do with cell animation. We’ve also built Spawn as a 3D element at times when we have a lot of movement and action."
According to McFarlane, the latest series will be self-contained so that new viewers won’t feel like they’ve missed anything, but it will also be consistent with the original 18 episodes. "We’ll keep all the things fans came to love, which are all the dark, gritty moodiness and claustrophobic sort of feel," he says. "So we’ll keep playing on the strengths that worked and build upon it with the technology that we can mess around with."
McFarlane says the brass at IDT has been really good about giving him creative freedom, especially given the novelty of what he’s trying to achieve. "Doing R-rated drama animation is actually sort of a new function for almost anybody you deal with here in America," he asserts. "They do a good job on their other projects with Film Roman, but nobody’s really tackled the sensibility that I have, which is that this is just an "R" movie that we happen to be animating." Japanese animation directors will work with DPS/Film Roman’s Korean animation facilities to inject the show with a dose of anime, a proven commodity with adult animation fans.
Spawn isn’t just another cookie-cutter superhero. When fans ask him why the title character rarely talks, he replies, "Because you’re applying a Batman-Superman mentality to him. Spawn is way more Jaws than Superman. Jaws didn’t talk in his movie, but when he showed up, you knew something big was going to happen. I don’t think the Boogeyman needs to say much if he’s done right. He’s just a presence, and when he shows up you’re f—ed."
Spawn’s sub-verbal quality, of course, means fewer lines for Keith David, who reprises the role he originated in the first HBO series. The actor is nonetheless thrilled to be back in McFarlane’s world, which requires a departure from typical cartoon acting. McFarlane remarks that one of the most challenging things he faced with casting was keeping actors from doing exaggerated voices. Even seasoned pro Mark Hamill, whose numerous voice roles include The Joker in various animated Batman productions, needed to be reined in.
McFarlane recalls, "We cut him off a couple of times and said, ‘Now, Mark, you have to bring it down, take the edge off.’ And he’d say, ‘so you want me to bring it down?’ and we’d say, ‘That’s it!’ It was funny because he was a little confused and said, ‘Well, that’s just my voice.’ And I was like, ‘That’s the point. I don’t want a voice, I just want you.’"
And we just want more Spawn. McFarlane promises to keep us up-to-date on everything that’s happening with the animated series, comic books and live-action feature. In the meantime, you can track the show’s progress at http://spawn.com/entertainment/spawnanimation. You can also view a teaser trailer for the live-action sequel at http://spawn.com/entertainment/spawnanimation/video_Comicon2005_teaser.html.
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