Matthew Vaughn’s Next Film to be Adaptation of Bloodshot?-We Love Movie

Matthew Vaughn’s Next Film to be Adaptation of Bloodshot?: "

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UPDATE: This was predictable enough that I could have started a countdown: Mark Millar claims this is not true; he says Vaughn turned down the film months ago. Per the doubts expressed below, here’s hoping that’s the case. Original article follows.

It doesn’t take a big stretch of the imagination to guess that Matthew Vaughn might make another comic book movie after Kick-Ass, and many simply figured that it would be Kick-Ass 2. (Which Vaughn has seemed to downplay in recent weeks as an immediate next project.)

On the other hand, it does take a certain imaginative leap to understand why anyone would make a film based on the Valiant comic series Bloodshot, which despite strong sales is really just a recombination of a bunch of ‘rogue master killer’ comic book character tropes. But Vaughn is reportedly eyeing an adaptation of the series as his next film.

Latino Review says that Vaughn will direct Bloodshot, based on the second volume of stories from the series. He’s writing the script with Jane Goldman. (Stardust and Kick-Ass screenwriter.) No other talent now, but that’s plenty for a possible next project.

Wikipedia offers the following summation of Bloodshot v2:

The corpse of Angelo Mortalli has been reanimated and remade into the ultimate killing machine—an engine of destruction code named: Bloodshot. But, in the process, his memories were lost…and maybe his soul. His makers meant to use him as a weapon—an unstoppable assassin. But they made him too well. Too powerful to be contained, he breaks free and escapes.

There is some craziness with a bit of self-awareness on the part of the blood-borne nannies that give the character his power, but basically the tale (as I recall it) is Punisher-like with a healthy dose of blood and violence, government agencies, organized crime and a shady background for the main character. How does the weird nanite aspect work on screen? Possibly not very well, even with talented folks writing the script, in which case Bloodshot is just another Punisher-type guy. If this is happening, I’m curious to know what attracts Vaughn, if it’s something other than an attractive deal.

Personally, I was hoping that Vaughn would move on to something other than an adaptation after Kick-Ass. He’s been great in a variety of pulpy stories that are infused with touches of real character (Layer Cake and Stardust) but I was curious to see if he might push his talents towards an original script. (Not that there’s anything wrong with working with existing material — all three of Vaughn’s films have — but I suspect he’s got a good original tale or two in him.)