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From Comic To Screen The following was written by a person involved with the movie Constantine in response to a question asking them about the evolution of the comic-to-movie. "Well to start Kevin Brodman (an Irish bloke) loved the series and after selling one of his first scripts, the powers that be asked if there was anything he'd like to do and he slammed Hellblazer on the table. His first draft, which I can't even find, was very much right out of Hellblazer with Astra, the three demons fighting over the right to Constantine's soul at death, etc.. but then it went into what I believe is the usual grismill of Hollywood. They felt after a few rewrites that Kevin was probably burnt out and hired another writer and another and when it surfaced in 1999 or so it had no resemblance to a Hellblazer flick. It was a bunch of bad guys with Sydney Greenfield accents chasing artifacts through China town. Reminded me of the 2nd Indian Jone - Temple of Gloom. That's when I believe Cappello came on and threw out everything and started over. Using the comics as the guide again. But then 4 years and three directors and two stars later - everyone had put their two cents in and we have now what we have. A lot of those other scenes (and there are many many more) were natural extensions of how anyone would react when they knew they were dying. It's not just wallowing around in self pity, it's getting things in order, it's patching up some old wounds. It's saying goodbye. Those scenes slowly got whittled out for space. Shooting scripts for major films must never go over 120 pages and when they do, everyone has a say so in what needs to stay or go. Now no one wants to make a shallow piece of shit, and they didn't this time either, BUT when people develop things for sooooo long they tend to forget that certain scenes NEED to be there. What happens is those in development re-read after every rewrite and it gets boring and they start skimming over the old stuff - and focus on the new and exciting and after a while that old stuff becomes filler that is deemed unnecessary and is taken out. And sometimes those small moments are the differences between creating a asshole with redeeming qualities and just a standard asshole. Like the shot gun - this came during the Nick Cage tenure - "I should have a gun...". At least the souped up GTO didn't make the final draft... Movies are like people, they take on lives of their own and with so many involved the clear vision of one can be lost. This is why I'm so amazed at how good the film actually turned out, despite all the development. It may not be the comic, and I'm sorry for that, but it is a good film in its own right." <<< Back To Index.