Sam Mendes to Adapt Comic Book Flick 'Preacher'

At this rate, they're going to have to come up with new comic books just so Hollywood has new story ideas it can pilfer. The latest in a long and exponentially growing line of comic book adaptations is Preacher, a Vertigo comic created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. The Hollywood Reporter says that Sam Mendes will direct the film version of the story, which is about a Texas preacher possessed by an angel-demo named Genesis."Given immense powers, encapsulates the Reporter, "the preacher teamed with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire and set out on a journey across America to find God -- who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven -- and hold him accountable for his negligence."This isn't the first time Preacher has had its motor revved. At one point there was an HBO series planned as well as a film version funneled through Kevin Smith's A View Askew, which must mean the comic book has a lot more jokes about sex and Star Wars than the description let on.As of now, there are no writers attached to the project and no stars, but at the rate these movies are flying off the assembly line these days, we should get those announcements in short order.

Still, it sounds like a great idea for a movie (or two or three), and the addition of Mendes gives it a much more serious edge to it than it might have had otherwise.