Alan Moore, celebrated genius comics writer and comics industry curmudgeon, wants to make his own movie.
Moore has long been a critic of the films based upon his works, which includes V for Vendetta, From Hell, and his masterpiece, Watchmen. The writer seems to think that adapting any of his works is inappropriate, and likely would not enjoy any adaptation, no matter how good it may be. He’s recently compared his own work to Moby Dick, proclaiming that it is classic and untouchable.
He’s also declared on multiple occasions his distaste for film in general, saying of it, on one occasion for example, “[Film is ] watering down our collective cultural imagination.”
Presumably, Moore feels can do for films what he did for comics 20 years ago, when he was partly responsible for a kind of renaissance of sequential art storytelling. Then again, perhaps it’s not arogance that drives him into this venture. Maybe he just has the itch to make a film, but it’s hard to imagine Moore doing anything these days which is not driven by arrogance and a reverence for his own work.
There are few details about the film available yet. We know the title: Show Pieces. The film is described in the press release as a series of short films which will drive a narrative which is “multi-layered,” “occult,” and “noir flecked.”
The first ten-minute piece is called Act of Faith and the second is Jimmy’s End. It sounds more like he’s writing short-form television – but the two episodes – which will only total 20 minutes, are slated to be shown in New York at The Creator’s Project on October 2012, and will then be available on the project website.
