It was only a matter of time after director D.J. Caruso closed the deal to direct the long-gesting comic adaptation “Preacher” last month that casting rumors would begin to surface, but who would’ve guessed they would be coming from the director himself.
Doing the press rounds in France where “I Am Number Four” will be opening next month, Caruso spilled on potential and apparently interested leads for the film telling Cloneweb (via /Film) Chris Pine, Shia LaBeouf and Alex Pettyfer are interested in the roles of Jesse, Arseface and the Saint Of Killers respectively.
But, let’s just caution this for a minute. The project is still in early stages with John August still working on the script, so this one is not quite ready for cameras. Not to mention that Pine has “Star Trek 2” likely to take his time for the rest of the year, and LaBeouf and Pettyfer are circling their own/getting offered other projects as well. So, don’t get too upset just yet “Preacher” fans.
Based on the comic book series created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, the story follows a possessed Texas preacher who teams up with a vampire on a quest to find God and hold him accountable for his negligence. Caruso realizes how thorny the potential subject could be and praises the studio for backing the picture saying, “It is a crazy road trip and I think what’s amazing and what makes Sony so brave is they can see there’s a real universality to the story when you have good vs. evil. I think when you have these crazy characters, that are not necessarily politically correct, there’s something generally attractive to those characters and those elements. But at the end of the day it really is a story about good vs. evil and the decisions that you make. Whether the demons are going to win or whether the Genesis or the good inside of Jesse is going to be there. So I think there’s a great universality that makes the movie commercial but at the same time it’s one of those that will shock you.”
As far as spilling on future projects at junkets go, Caruso breaks all the records. We’re surprised how long he went on about the film, but clearly it’s a project he’s very excited about. You can watch the full interview below.
