Oh, Mark Millar. In an industry where hyperbole and exaggeration are king, Mark Millar is on a whole other level, always eager to talk about himself and his films with whoever is willing to listen, often feeding the machine with lots of excitement about projects that are premature to say the least. His latest bit of news comes courtesy of his own Millar World forums (via Bleeding Cool) where he claims that the much talked-about (at least by him) "Kick-Ass 2" will shoot this summer.
" 'Kick-Ass 2' films this Summer. I expect there will be an announcement of some sort in the next week. Certainly before Kapow next month for sure," he wrote. "Matthew [Vaughn] is co-writing and producing, 'Kick-Ass' being a labour of love for him. He selected the perfect director last year and we’re very, very happy. Trust him…he knows what he’s doing. 'Kick-Ass 2' and 'Supercrooks' both around 40 mill budgets, 'American Jesus' 25, and that’s quite a nice number for me."
Anyway, maybe he's right and maybe this sequel really and truly is moving forward, for real, and has been developing on the sly. Or, maybe this is more big talk from a guy who tends to put the cart before the horse (or before he even has a horse to put it in front of). Here are 5 other times Mark Millar has made announcements that never came to pass.
1. Wait, wasn't "Kick-Ass 2" greenlit already Mark?
Way back in August 2010, Millar was already talking up the sequel claiming that pre-production was going to happen in April 2011 (it didn't) and that the movie was greenlit (it wasn't). All that year, Millar's talk was so incessant that Christopher Mintz-Plasse had to tell fans to temper their excitement, tweeting "Don't believe what you are hearing about Kick-Ass 2 guys. It is not confirmed, but I will love to do it when the time is right!"
2. "Superior" locking down a major actor
" 'Superior' movie just locked down most high profile actor of 2010. Official release in January," Millar tweeted in December 2010. This led to rampant speculation about who it could be, with names like Ryan Reynolds, Sam Worthington and Jon Hamm all being bandied about. Of course, there was no follow up news and the project remains in development.
3. Mark Millar shooting a superhero movie in 2010
Again on his forums, back in 2009, Millar announced that he was gearing up make his directorial debut on an unnamed superhero movie. He said that principal photography would start in March 2010, and like "Kick-Ass," it would be independently financed, and sold to a studio once complete. We're still waiting.
4. Mark Millar being offered the job of writing "X-Men 4"
In March 2010, Millar claimed that he was offered the job of writing the (at the time) developing "X-Men 4," but turned down the gig. But not only was this untrue, 20th Century Fox took the unusual step of going out of their way to squash the rumors, putting the word out that they had actually never talked to Millar about the project at all.
5. Mark Millar says "Nemesis" has a $150 million budget and that Tony Scott is chasing Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt for the lead roles
Okay, "Nemesis" really is a brewing project that has Tony Scott attached to direct. But that's about where the truth of this one ends. In the works for a few years now, Millar said back in 2010 that Fox was willing to spend $150 million (LOL) on the adaptation of the largely unknown comic (at least outside of geek circles) and that Scott was chasing two of the biggest names in town: "Tony Scott, brother of Ridley Scott… I just got a call from him, literally about a month ago… it was one of those very surreal things. This is a $150 million budget… he said 'Who do you fancy for it?'… I said 'I dunno, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp' so he said 'That’s good, we’ll give them a call," We're pretty sure he imagined that conversation.