The ALMIGHTY Movie Deal
Haven't heard of 'Almighty'? Don't feel bad. The self-published, truly indie graphic novel by Ed LaRoche isn't likely to be found on the shelves of most comic shops.
However, Hollywood producer Stephen L'Heureux of Solipsist Films managed to secure a copy and once he read it he found himself in hot pursuit of the films rights. This was all part of the plan for LaRoche.
The comics creator, who has been working in animation, was looking to establish his own ideas in comics properties. While he had many ideas developing, he settled on 'Almighty' as his first outing. He wrote and drew the book, and printed 3000 copies. So far he's moved enough copies to make a profit largely through internet-driven sales. However many copies also made their way out into the world via Los Angeles comic shops, which LaRoche knew were a hunting ground for producers like L'Heureux.
"I got lots of interest and phone calls," LaRoche told Comics2Film at
Mania.com in an exclusive interview. "I took a meeting with Stephen and he seemed like he got the material the most."
L'Heureux not only "got it", but he told us that he sees the author as a major talent on the rise.
"Ed LaRoche the next great comic book guy like Howard Chaykin or Frank Miller or Brian Azarello," said L'Heureux, who is producing the film version of the book with Cary Brokaw. "He's a really special voice."
The story of 'Almighty' is set in a future world LaRoche calls "third world America". It's a fractured landscape of segregated zones driven by neo-tribalism.
"At its' heart 'Almighty' is a pursuit story," said of his lean treatment of the intricate future world he's created. "As the story unfolds there are other things that are attached to it but at the core of it, a girl has been kidnapped and someone has hired a killer to find her and bring her home."
That killer is Fale, a hardened gun for hire who rides motocycle and isn't afraid of a fight. The character comes directly from LaRoche's desire to re-create the female action hero, an icon he feels has been fumbled by Hollywood in the past 20 years, with movies like the 'Resident Evil' series.
"I don't see a five foot four, hundred and ten pound girl kicking everybody's ass in that role, and then she's pretty too, on top of it," LaRoche said. "That's not what a real action hero would be concerned with. How they look, whether their lipstick is on right and do they look good in heels.
"I think that if you create a character and that men could sit there and go, 'I relate to this person. If I was in a fox hole, If I had to go through the door, through a window, through a skylight, I'd want this person behind me,'" the comics creator told us. That's the kind of hero he's created in Fale.
Now screenwriter Ken Nolan, who wrote 'Black Hawk Down' is at work on a script for the film. LaRoche told us he thinks that's a brilliant choice.
"'Black Hawk Down' had some great military dialogue and I loved how brave they were in not dumbing it down for the audience and it felt authentic," LaRoche said after taking a meeting with Nolan, Brokaw and L'Heureux. "He liked it, and I want to be around people who like it. I don't want to have to convince somebody of the value of it."
L'Heureux told Comics2Film that 'Almighty' is presently out to directors. "It's a very hot property around town."
And stay tuned to
Mania.com for more on the movie as it develops.