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Comics2Film spoke with producer Lloyd Levin (Tomb Raider, Mystery Men) about the various comic book movie projects in the works with Lawrence Gordon Productions.

Of course, the movie on the minds of many fans is Hellboy. C2F has heard that the project is picking steam and, of course, it's been widely reported that Vin Diesel is in talks to star. Levin confirmed that the project is looking good.

"Vin Diesel is definitely interested," Levin told us. He added, "Guillermo [del Toro] is still set to direct. We're all hoping we can work this out so it's his next film after Blade 2."

As we reported yesterday, Diesel is highly sought-after so it remains to be seen if Hellboy fits into the actor's plans. At this point there is no studio attached to the project, although Levin said there is currently a lot of interest.

R.I.P.D., on the other hand, is set up at Universal Studios. Levin tells us the project is looking great and they have a new draft coming from Peter Lenkov in the near future.

"I think he's doing a great job," Levin said of Lenkov's writing. "We're all hoping that the next draft is the draft where we can start talking about it as a movie."

Although Watchmen has been in development seemingly forever, Levin hinted that it may move forward at some point. "I can't say anything about that at the moment, but there is something happening with it. We're definitely not giving up on Watchmen."

Also in development is Paul Chadwick's Concrete. The producers currently have a draft written by filmmaker Peter Jackson before he started production on Lord of the Rings. Although the producers would be happy to have Jackson direct the movie too, he currently is not attached to the project.

Mike Richardson of Dark Horse Comics had a talk with Widgett over at The Last Comic Site. During the extensive interview Richardson talked briefly about the history of Dark Horse as film producers (starting with the quirky horror flick Dr. Giggles) and about the current hot projects at Dark Horse Entertainment.

Richardson makes mention of Hellboy dropping Guillermo del Toro's name as director and also mentioning that Vin Diesel is "interested." Richardson also said that Peter Lenkov is working on another draft of his screenplay for R.I.P.D.

The Dark Horse mogul goes into slightly more detail on the movie version of Paul Chadwick's Concrete. "A short time back...Paul [Chadwick] wrote another draft," Richardson said. "We also had a draft written by a huge director, whose currently working on a project, who we believe is going to come and write a final...himself write another version of his draft, and...hopefully commit to direct the project. We have high hopes for Concrete."

In the past, Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) has been attached to the Concrete movie. This may be the director Richardson is referring to.

Check out the complete Mike Richardson interview at The Last Comic Site.

Freddie Prinze, Jr.: SpyBoy! That's right. A source at Dark Horse Entertainment told Comics2Film that they are closing a deal to bring SpyBoy to the small screen. Freddie Prinze, Jr. is attached to provide a voice for the young adventurer. SpyBoy would be done in animation as a co-venture with Nelvana.

The SpyBoy comic is written by Peter David and drawn by Pop Mahn. The title character is a shy teenager who has a mysterious alter-ego who is an butt-kicking international spy.

Our source also mentioned that Concrete and Hellboy are both projects that Dark Horse is focusing a lot of attention on.

A recent report from Dark Horizons indicated Paul Chadwick's Concrete is still floundering around in development hell.  Citing The Comics Journal as its source, DH summarized Chadwick's recent remarks about the production.  The comic creator said of Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) and Francis Walsh's scrpit that it wasn't "shaded with the melancholy that I think is an essential part of Concrete". 

Apparently Disney then looked a the success of the low-budget The Blair Witch Project and decided to start pinching pennies.  "It was back to square-one with Concrete," Jackson is quoted as saying.  Now the movie is said to be in the process of getting shopped around to "young, edgy directors."

A source at Dark Horse Entertainment told Comics 2 Film that Peter Jackson (The Frighteners) has written a screenplay for a movie version of Paul Chadwick's Concrete.   The screenplay was turned in some time in the last two months.  Jackson will not, however, be directing the movie, as he'll be turning his attention towards The Lord of the Rings.  Concrete is set up at Disney and will be produced by Dark Horse.  The filmmakers are hoping for a Summer 2001 release.    Chadwick is serving as creative consultant.

While we had him on the phone we quizzed our source about a variety of other movies based on Dark Horse comics.

One we hadn't heard about is Lords of Misrule.  This outstanding comic book, by Dan Abnett, John Tomlinson and Steve White with art by Peter Snejbjerg, featured a mix of urban legends and bizarre supernatural horrors.  The movie is set up at Universal and hopefully production will get going some time next year.  A screenplay is in the works by Ted Kennenbaum who recently worked on Fantastic Voyage.  Our source tells us a major talent is eager to play the lead role of Jack in this movie.

Likewise a movie adaptation of Frank Miller and Geoff Darrow's Hard Boiled is heating up.  This is also due to a big name taking an interest in the movie.   Previous reports indicated that Nicolas Cage was interested in the movie.   When we asked our source if Cage was the big name he only replied, "Maybe, maybe not."

The Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot cartoon is shaping up nicely.  It should debut on Fox Kids in September of this year.   August will be Big Guy month on the network, promoting the show's launch.  Toy and sponsorship deals are also in place.

An adaptation of Ghost is still in the works.  DHE hopes to have it set up at a studio in a month or so.

Hellboy is looking strong (see article below).

And, of course, Mystery Men will hit the theaters this August.