‘Deadpool’ Director Says His R-Rated CGI Adaptation of ‘The Goon’ Is Still Alive

You may recall a few years back, when Deadpool director Tim Miller released a proof-of-concept video for an R-rated CG-animated adaptation of Eric Powell’s beloved graphic novel The Goon. You may have also forgotten about it in the years since, but now that Miller delivered a record-breaking box office hit with another R-rated comic book adaptation, it looks like there’s been renewed interest in The Goon. While nothing is officially moving forward just yet, Miller seems pretty optimistic about its chances.

Miller was speaking with Collider when he said that he’s gotten a few phone calls about the project following the success of Deadpool. He also revealed that he’s re-recorded some of the voice overs with a “very prominent” movie star, though he stops short of divulging the actor’s name:

We haven’t taken it back out yet, but I can honestly say, without saying who, there has been a number of calls now—for years it didn’t happen—saying, ‘Hey we hear you have this Goon project. When can we see it? What can we see?’ Jeff and I re-recorded some V.O. for the animatic last week, we’re doing some more week after next with a very prominent movie star. We know we’ve got a really good shot here and we wanna put our best foot forward.

Back in 2008, David Fincher signed on to produce The Goon based on a script from Powell. Miller and Jeff Fowler joined the project as co-directors in 2012 — Miller hadn’t yet directed a film at that point, though he did visual work for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and created the gorgeous title sequence for Fincher’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

The duo came up with this proof-of-concept video for The Goon, which features Clancy Brown in the titular role and Paul Giamatti as his sidekick, Franky:

But 2012 was a different time and The Goon was seen as doubly risky — not only was it an R-rated comic book adaptation, but it was animated. Now that Deadpool is a MAJOR success, The Goon seems like the kind of risk some studios might want to take, especially with the guy who made Deadpool such a major success. As for that other part of the equation, R-rated animated comedies are making a bit of a comeback, with two films hitting theaters this year: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Sausage Party, and Nerdland, featuring the voices of Patton Oswalt and Paul Rudd.

So we’re definitely in a time when something like The Goon has a much better chance now than it did in 2012, but that also depends on Miller’s schedule. He’s likely returning to helm Deadpool 2, which could hit theaters as early as 2017, but Miller isn’t becoming any less in-demand, so the wheels need to start spinning on The Goon pretty quickly if it’s going to happen anytime soon.