flip this icon around for appropriateness, add fleshy bit over mouth

[thehefner]

So a couple days ago, I came very, very close to posting news here regarding the buzz of Thomas Jane in a JONAH HEX movie... complete with this image:



The question was, could it be real or photoshopped? I'd heard absolutely nothing regarding the Hex movie going forward nor Jane's involvement (and trust me, I would have at aintitcool.com and chud.com), and this photo was leaked out on some no-name website. When the filmmakers (the guys behind the magnificent CRANK) reported that the photo was indeed fake, that Jane had no involvement in their project whatsoever, well, that seemed like that. Would have been neat, but alas.

Then I go on chud.com today to read this headline: "HOLY SHIT, THAT JONAH HEX PICTURE WAS REAL." With the actual article starting with "Sort of." We'll let Mr. Jane himself explain what happened:

"Yeah, the pic is real all right – my pal Akiva Goldsman* told me about the project and I fell in love with the idea right away. Being a huge fan of all things Hex – I just couldn’t help myself. I called up my buddy Chris Nelson and we spent a Saturday afternoon working up some make-up for this impromptu shoot and I fired a few pics off to Warners. How do people get a hold of this shit? It’s a little embarrassing seeing my fanboy enthusiasm spilled all over the web, but great scripts don’t come around too often, especially for characters I love."

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Tom Jane? Here's hoping all this has gotten the filmmaker's attention. He wouldn't have sprung to mind for Hex, but then, I don't know who else could play everyone's favorite grizzled Two-Face of the Weird West.

That said, I still like spacechild's idea of casting Jane as CAPTAIN AMERICA. He'd be bloody excellent in the role.



*I don't care if he won the Oscar for A BEAUTIFUL MIND, that motherfucker wrote BATMAN FOREVER, BATMAN AND ROBIN and destroyed I AM LEGEND, you keep that fucker away from all comic properties as well as pregnant and nursing women.

Comments

Apropos of, well, not nothing...

[icewolf010.livejournal.com]

...but something else all together.

You're in Seattle? Send me a postcard!

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

I've heard of Jonah Hex before, but I've really only ever been exposed to the DCAU version (JLU: the Now and Future Thing, I believe). Care to explain the awesome? (Mind you, I'm already predisposed to like scarred up villains/ antiheroes. Dent, Vader, Doom, Damage....)

*hums 'the Hero of Canton' to herself*

Glad to see that that stroke has cleared up...

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

I doubt that a Jonah Hex movie will get made. DC doesn't even seem interested in making films for their more well known characters that aren't Batman (and Superman...I guess. And how long has the WW movie been in Development Hell?), never mind those not on the A-list. Sometimes I wish they'd take a more Marvel-like approach to adapting their characters.

That said, it's always nice to discover a geeky actor who isn't Nic Cage. Makes a nice change from the nth round of "comic books? No, I never read those things" in the making-of docs. And the fact that Jane is soo much hotter than Cage is nice too

A handful of years ago...

[american-arcane.livejournal.com]

Thomas Jane was at DragonCon.

This wasn't all that long after Deep Blue Sea had come out. He was up on stage and he asked, "So, what do all of you think of me being a super hero?"

And everyone said with a collective gasp, "Aquaman?"

And he's like, "No... but I will be in the new Punisher movie."

I'm not sure if the crowd was relieved that there wasn't going to be an Aquaman movie or excited that there might be a good Punisher movie on the way (well, we know how that turned out...), but there was much cheering and good-will.

Actors who are fanboys rock. (Usually.)

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oh, same here on the scarred characters. Love 'em!

Jonah's the best and most memorable of the characters DC introduced in WEIRD WESTERN TALES, including the characters who appeared in that JLU episode: Bat Lash (who just had a solid and completely-unread DC mini-series, El Diablo, Pow Wow Smith. The other great character was Scalphunter, who played a significant role in James Robinson's STARMAN, which is an absolute A+ highest possible DC comic recommendation, FYI.

But as for Jonah, he's a grizzled western badass bounty hunter, a hardcore motherfucker all-around. I think it's safe to say that what Conan was to the Hyperborean Age, Jonah was to the DC Universe West.

The character was revived for three VERTIGO mini-series by BUBBA HO-TEP's Joe R. Lansdale, pitting Hex against supernatural forces, which sounds like the direction the film's gonna take. I have no problem with that, as that could be an awesome film, even though I far, far prefer straightforward western stories of the character, which he currently has in the JONAH HEX ongoing series. I feel like that series is forever on the cusp of cancellation, but so far it keeps trucking along. And good for it, because it is awesome. Mostly stand-alone done-in-one stories, badass.

Also, later in life, he was snatched out of time and thrown forward into a war-ravaged dystopia, where he became a Mad Max figure for the HEX ongoing series in the late 80's. Which is why--if I recall correctly--he made a comment along those lines in the JLU episode.

By the way, that wasn't his first appearance in the animated universe. In the last season of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES before they streamlined the animation style, he was voiced by DELIVERANCE's evil redneck William McKinney as the grizzled old man Hex:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbnrz_batman-showdown_fun

Old man Hex versus Ra's (David Warner) and Malcolm McDowell. On a blimp. Fifteen million flavors of awesome.

I imagine not long after that is when Hex was killed in a card game, then his corpse was stuffed and mounted. Seriously. Last we've seen, he was on display in Booster Gold's "Planet Krypton" theme restaurant.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Hey, we got a CONSTANTINE movie (well, arguably), and besides, it's not DC's call to make. Which is a major problem for a lot of other reasons, as WB doesn't let DC have much any involvement in their own properties. I think it was Chuck Dixon who said that nine times out of ten, WB doesn't even know they own a comic company. That's how little they think of DC, and that's going to be the biggest hurdle keeping DC from matching what Marvel is starting to do with their movies. As it is, this is hoe we get things like CATWOMAN.

If HEX is going to get made, I can guarantee you it's because of the script, and a large chunk (if not the majority) of the people greenlighting the film won't even know it's a based on a comic character.

Ooh, Patrick Stewart is a big ol' geek too!

Re: Apropos of, well, not nothing...

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I am indeed in Seattle! But a postcard... we'll see.

Re: A handful of years ago...

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Man, Aquaman don't get enough respect. At least DC is hard at work plotting and planning a good revival of the character, once it's all in order. Jane might not be bad in that role either. There are a number of classic superheroes I could honestly see him playing. He's got the looks, the body, and the talent.

Re: A handful of years ago...

[american-arcane.livejournal.com]

Did you ever see Entourage?

The big deal Aquaman done by James Cameron is the entire plot of the second season. It's played for lots of good-natured laughs along the way.

But, in the season finale, the movie premieres and we get to see one little bit of scene. And, suddenly, it's not quite that ridiculous of an idea any more... :)

And, yeah, Jane has impressed me over the years. I could probably accept him as Cap.

Re: A handful of years ago...

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I'd certainly heard about the Aquaman movie subplot in ENTOURAGE, but not that last bit. That sounds pretty damn cool. I'd frankly love to see James Cameron's AQUAMAN.

Re: Apropos of, well, not nothing...

[icewolf010.livejournal.com]

And why not?

I'm not really that invested, I'm just psyched I've finally had a a chance to use this icon. :)

[spacechild.livejournal.com]

And Brendan Frasier as Hal Jordan!!

Re: Apropos of, well, not nothing...

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

hehehe, it's a perfect icon.

I just have a serious problem when it comes to mailing people cards. I still owe thank you cards for Christmas presents people gave me two years ago. Bloo and I were planning to do a whole series of letters and postcards and other such things for our long-distance relationship, and yeah, that never happened. Maybe this is something on which I need to work.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'm still tooling that one around. Er, if tooling's the right word. I'm still marinating on that idea. Let's just say I'm still trying to figure out what I'm trying to figure out what to say.

[shadowlongknife.livejournal.com]

HOLY SHIT. DUDE. HOLY SHIT.

DUDE.

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

Old man Hex versus Ra's (David Warner) and Malcolm McDowell. On a blimp. Fifteen million flavors of awesome.

I've seen this! Back when it was actually on TV, and not just me reliving my childhood. That was just... beautiful. Clearly, probably not Hex's usual band of villains, but nice. Very Ur-Western ideas in there: I will make a point of trying to pick some of his stuff up, if my bank account holds up.

Though it may take back seat to the purchase of the Batman:TAS dvd set. I have such nostalgia for that kind of thing...

I'm *fairly* certain that the version in "Planet Krypton" must be a statue (I remember it too). Or, failing that, a version of Hex that Booster put into stasis moments before his real death- time travelers are tricky like that. Yes, that must be it. Hex should be getting a Captain American-style resurrection any time now.

Alright, more things to add to my nerdly shopping list. I need to get a job...

[spacechild.livejournal.com]

Word up.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Now I have to ask, what are you reacting to particularly? The idea of a HEX movie? The idea of Tom Jane in the role? Tom Jane getting all cosplayed-up to impress producers? His general fanboyness? There really are so many possibilities, all of them worthy!

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

On a personal geek note, the fact that this reunited TIME AFTER TIME's David Warner and Malcolm McDowell fills me with utter delight. Those two should just read the phone book together, alternating between "suave brilliant evil phone book" and "creepy psychotic insane evil phone book." So much better than my Al Gore phone book.

Oh, heck, B:TAS is important, I cannot begrudge that in the least. It's still some of the best Batman ever, from any format. Still, consider throwing down for one trade of the current JONAH HEX series, because like I said, it's constantly on the verge of cancellation. Or so I think.

As for the stuffed body/statue, I'm just going by what wikipedia said. But if there was ever an old-man Jonah Hex in a case, I personally would automatically assume it was the stuffed body, because that turned up a couple times in the late 80's DCU. I'm almost surprised, like, The Creeper didn't have a BRAVE AND THE BOLD team-up with the corpse!

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

Haaaa ooh... WHAT. THE.

*Brain has preformed an illegal operation and will restart in 5.. 4... 3... 2....*

Canon stuffed body continuity. DC, you are weirder than I thought.

(Booster puts up a *stuffed body* in his restaurant?? Where people eat?? That's gotta be breaking the health code. Geez, I wonder how that gets listed for Jonah in the appearances... "Jonah Hex makes a postmortem appearance as decor! Be sure to pick up this exciting new title!" )

[shadowlongknife.livejournal.com]

Jonah Hex movie. With Thomas Jane.

My jaw, it is broken it has fallen so close to the floor.