While at CinemaCon, we had the chance to sit down and talk to director Antoine Fuqua for his upcoming sequel, THE EQUALIZER 2 and posed the question about tackling the comic book genre after making waves in the action and crime thriller genre. Fuqua said he was approached for Morbius: The Living Vampire at Sony as he's a Spider-Man villain primarily. Here's what he had to say:
"As a kid I grew up with comic books. They talked to me about BLACK PANTHER years ago, way back in the day. There's some reason they came up and they talked to me about at Sony, a Marvel character, Morbius [The Living Vampire]…that kinda came up. I don't know, I have a thirteen-year-old son so I'm watching more of that again and it's exciting to do that. I'd love to create a new one. Y'know, something that's closer to what I get excited about."
Fuqua then turned the tables on me and asked me what I'd like to see him do. I had an answer ready, too. I told him I'd love to see him on a revival of BLADE. Fuqua seemed a little surprised in a good way, but he's obviously juggling some upcoming projects.
"Blade, huh? Not Morbius? Not Scarface?" We had a good laugh, as Fuqua wanted to see which I preferred. Here's our exchange on that:
FUQUA: Maybe I'll get a chance to get lucky to do both. I'll do Scarface and a superhero movie.
PAUL: Well, if they call you for Blade, man, take the call.
FUQUA: What about Morbius?
PAUL: Morbius would be interesting, but he's not that popular, so you have a lot of freedom to really make him into something.
FUQUA: He could turn into Blade! (laughs).
So, it looks like Fuqua is at least considering a superhero film, as well as balancing the potential for SCARFACE. But, Morbius came up a number of times, so it's obviously a property that Sony is at least shopping the character for a big-screen debut. Look for the full interview with Fuqua later this week where we talk about working with Denzel Washington, his plans for THE EQUALIZER franchise and more!
THE EQUALIZER 2 hits theaters on July 20th.
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