Taika Waititi’s next comic book venture is The Incal film adaptation
The director is once again teaming up with What We Do In The Shadows collaborator Jemaine Clement
Aux News Waititi
Straight off of working in the MCU on Thor: Love And Thunder, director Taika Waititi is delving into another expansive comic book universe with The Incal, the ‘80s graphic novel series created by Alejandro Jodorowsky and the late French artist Moebius.
Waititi is teaming up with frequent collaborator Jemaine Clement for the script, as well as Peter Warren. Clement and Waititi are known for their work together on the vampire mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows as well as Flight Of The Concords. Warren joins the duo as a relative newcomer whose most recent work is the 2016 comedy Ghost Team.
According to THR, Waititi received 92-year-old Jodorowsky’s blessing over an “emotional Zoom meeting” in which the two men discussed his visions for the property.
“The films and graphic novels of Alejandro Jodorowsky have influenced me and so many others for so long,” Waititi said in a statement to THR. “I was stunned to be given the opportunity to bring his iconic characters to life and I am grateful to Alejandro, Fabrice and everyone at Humanoids for trusting me to do so.”
The Incal follows intergalactic private eye John Difool, who gets caught up in a grand space opera after finding a mystical and precious artifact called the Incal.
Joined by a ragtag crew, Difool embarks on a journey to save the universe. When writing The Incal, Jodorowsky found inspiration in another sci-fi epic, Dune, but created his own influential and beloved body of work, spurring the creation of the “Jodoverse.” As the universe’s foundation, The Incal is the highest-selling science fiction graphic novel in history.
No studio or streaming service is yet attached to the film, and the heads over at the publisher Humanoids want Waititi to complete his script before moving forward with possible distribution. A first draft of the script is expected by the end of the year.
The Incal marks the first time publisher Humanoids pursued a film adaptation for any of their works, and executives say they want to give as “much freedom as possible to [their] talent.”
“We already have something very substantial, and it’s a complicated book. It’s vast,” Humanoids CEO Fabrice Giger said. “We love the way he approached it.”
The Incal joins Waititi’s ambitious slate of ongoing sci-fi work, as the director also helms an untitled Star Wars feature, a live-action remake of Flash Gordon, and the television adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 film, Time Bandits. Oh, and he will eventually get around to a live-action adaptation of Akira. As if that’s not enough, his Hulu series Reservation Dogs has been renewed for a second season and he’s working on another series with Clement. Busy, busy man.
28 Comments
I figured if Dune succeed this would happen but the Incal is a really really weird work. Its also hella problematic at points. It will be interesting to see how Taika adapts it
I’m sorry, I can’t see Jodorowski doing anything that would these days be considered “problematic.”
I can’t tell if that’s a joke or not
Further exploration of the Jodoverse iterates the problematic aspects. The Metabarons prequel is a clinically batshit Freudian space opera that makes Incal look like a Disney story. I loved it but the incest and graphic infanticide would make it a tough sell for the multiplex crowd if a sequel is ever contemplated.
#justicefordogmen
At least it’s not The Incel. That’d be boring and depressing.
That’s what I thought the headline said, and I was confused.
And yet, definitely a comic book movie.
At least it’s not The Incel. That’d be boring and depressing.They already made that movie. It’s called “The Joker”
Call me crazy, but this sounds a lot like The Fifth Element.
I mean The Fifth Element borrowed a lot from Moebius’ work, especially The Long Tomorrow.
If he can make it even look remotely like Moebius’ work on screen I’ll be happy.
He’ll make it look like the recoloured version.
Sweet. Can we get the El Topo sequel next please?
I mean it’ll be interesting to see Waititi produce a shot for shot remake of the Fifth Element, I guess?
Forget Incal. Let’s see him do Metabarons. It’s like Dune but on steroids.
Jojo Rabbit was a real misstep, but I’m all for Waititi tackling a psychadelic space adventure by Jodorowski. This sounds a lot more interesting than a live action remake of Akira.
I agree but I’m happy that a misstep made him a bankable hollywood director who can pick his projects 🙂
He gets a lifetime pass for me because of the Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
“This sounds a lot more interesting than a live action remake of Akira.”I’m still surprised that a live action version of Cowboy Bebop got made before Akira. Granted, Akira is a bit more problematic (I suppose) but that has also been in development hell for, what, twenty years now? And how many studios have taken it on and then shuffled away??
Taika Waititi bringing the Jodoverse to the big screen is about as perfect a match as I could imagine.
hell on earth. literally no way this comes out good. there’s no way to adapt moebius without losing everything good about his work. maybe this will be the thing that finally knocks the sheen off of waititi and forces him to go back to working with clement, to make good things again
Technopriests, when?
Filming this as live action is the surest way to extreme disappointment
I want this to be an animated movie so badly!
G’damn…
They’re going to have to take a LOT of liberties with the source material. This also sounds like a limited series like The Foundation would be a better idea than a standalone film.