Taglines: The Evil has a new enemy. The Justice has a new Weapon. And the world has a new hero.
Spawn movie storyline. An assassin named Al Simmons is double-crossed and murdered by his evil boss Jason Wynn. Al makes a deal with the devil and returns to earth as Spawn to see his wife. He is ordered by the devil’s minion, The Clown, to kill Wynn. Wynn has made a deal with the clown too and is suppose to destroy the world with a deadly virus that will help start Armageddon and allow Hell to attack Heaven. Spawn must choose between Good & Evil.
Spawn is a 1997 American supernatural superhero horror film based on the comic book character of the same name. Directed and co-written by Mark A.Z. Dippé, the film stars Michael Jai White in the title role, and is the first film to feature an African American actor portraying a major comic book superhero. Spawn depicts the origin story of the title character, beginning with the murder of soldier / assassin Al Simmons.
He is resurrected as Spawn, the reluctant, demonic leader of Hell’s army. He ultimately refuses to lead the army in the war against Heaven and turns away from evil. The film co-stars John Leguizamo (as The Violator, Al’s demonic guide and enemy of the film’s antagonist) and Nicol Williamson (as Al’s mentor, Cogliostro). Martin Sheen, Theresa Randle, D. B. Sweeney, Melinda Clarke, and Frank Welker (as the voice of Malebolgia) also star in the film.
About the Production
Columbia Pictures showed interest in making a film adaptation of Spawn when the comic book was launched in 1992. Negotiations eventually fell through as Todd McFarlane felt that the studio was not giving him enough creative control. He eventually sold the film rights to New Line Cinema for $1 in exchange for creative input and merchandising rights. New Line president Michael DeLuca, a comic book collector himself, expressed interest in having “a character that has as established an audience as Spawn”, while declaring that success hinged on an adaptation that “maintains a PG-13 rating but retains its darkness.”
As visual effects were the main production concern, the film was to be produced by Pull Down Your Pants Pictures, a company formed by former Industrial Light & Magic artists Mark A.Z. Dippé, Clint Goldman, and Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams. Dippé was slated to direct the film, with Goldman as producer, and Williams as second unit director and visual effects supervisor. Dippé and Williams, who at the time was the only one of the three still attached to ILM, e called the film opportunity “our ticket out of the company”. The script would be written by Alan B. McElroy, who, along with writing the Spawn comic book, also wrote many episodes of the Todd McFarlane’s Spawn animated series.
Michael Jai White found Al Simmons’ character appealing; he described Spawn as “the most tragic character I’ve encountered in any cinematic production.” He says it was a challenge to make audiences sympathize with a government assassin who comes back from hell. White had endure two to four hours of make-up work, including a full glued-on bodysuit, yellow contact lenses that irritated his eyes, and a mask that restricted his breathing.[8] He said that his long-time experience with martial arts helped him to endure the uncomfortable prosthetics, giving him “strong will and unbreakable concentration.”
Spawn was originally green-lit with a budget of $20 million. The scale of the visual effects led New Line to continually increase the project’s budget, which grew to $40 million — a third of which was spent on the effects. The shooting schedule was only 63 days. To cut production time by a week, Goldman lent $1 million to engage John Grower’s Santa Barbara Studios to develop the digitally produced Hell sequences.
The visual effects shot count increased from 77 to over 400, created by 22 companies in the United States, Canada and Japan, requiring 70 people and nearly 11 months to complete. ILM did most of the work, creating 85 shots at a cost of $8.5 million. The most difficult sequences to render in the film included the Violator, Spawn’s digital cape, and some of Spawn’s transformations. More than half of the final effects shots were delivered two weeks before the film’s debut.
Spawn (1997)
Directed by: Mark A.Z. Dippé
Starring: John Leguizamo, Michael Jai White, Martin Sheen, Theresa Randle, Melinda Clarke, Nicol Williamson, D. B. Sweeney, Sydni Beaudoin, Michael Papajohn
Screenplay by: Alan B. McElroy
Production Design by: Philip Harrison
Cinematography by: Guillermo Navarro
Film Editing by: Todd Busch, Michael N. Knue
Costume Design by: Daniel J. Lester
Set Decoration by: Dena Roth
Art Direction by: Eric Orbom
Music by: Graeme Revell
MPAA Rating: R for violence and crude humor.
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Release Date: August 1, 1997
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