The upcoming “Swamp Thing” film from the new DC Studios may have already found a director with James Mangold in early talks to lead the project…
James Mangold — best known for his work on films such as “Logan” and “Copland” as well as the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” — is in early talks to direct the upcoming “Swamp Thing” film from DC Studios.
DC co-CEO’s James Gunn and Peter Safran just announced plans for a “Swamp Thing” movie on Tuesday while revealing that this would be a horror film — the first of its kind for the comic book based studio. Now it appears Mangold is circling a deal to become the director after he tweeted out a photo of Swamp Thing that Gunn later retweeted from his account.
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 1, 2023
“Swamp Thing” has gone under numerous transformations as a character over the years after first appearing in DC Comics back in 1971 from creators Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. Perhaps the most popular version of “Swamp Thing” came from acclaimed writer Alan Moore when he was given free reign to try and revamp the struggling series, which was nearing cancellation at the time.
Moore essentially rewrote Swamp Thing’s origin story —a scientist named Alec Holland and his wife Linda invent a bio-restorative formula that can solve any nations’ food shortage problems. Two thugs working for Nathan Ellery, head of the criminal organization the Conclave, barge into Alec’s lab, knock him out, and plant a bomb in the facility. Alec wakes up as the bomb explodes. In flames, he runs into the swamp. His body is drenched in the bio-restorative formula, and this affects the plant life of the swamp, imbuing it with Alec’s consciousness and memories. The newly conscious plant life forms a semblance of a human and rises up from the bog as the Swamp Thing, the latest in a long line of Earth elementals created when the swamp is in need of protection.
“Swamp Thing” eventually became a film directed by horror master Wes Craven that was released in 1982 starring Ray Wise, Adrienne Barbeau and Louis Jourdan. More recently, a “Swamp Thing” series lasted for 10 episodes on the now defunct DC Universe app that featured Andy Bean and Derek Mears as the monstrous creature as well as Crystal Reed and Academy Award nominated actress Virginia Madsen.
Gunn teased plans for the new “Swamp Thing” as a “much more horrific” film and now it appears a director may be nearing a deal to helm the project.
Don’t get too excited just yet, however, because Mangold still has the new “Indiana Jones” film coming out later this year as well as a Bob Dylan biopic that he’s set to direct before he would have time to tackle “Swamp Thing” so it’s likely this movie won’t be released for several years.
