WARNING: If we see CLASH - it might mean Louis Leterrier gets Y: THE LAST MAN

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

(Gene Limbrick helped in the writing of this article)... The big screen adaptation of the high concept comic 'Y: The Last Man' is rumoured to be heading into the hands of a new director, namely that of 'The Incredible Hulk' and 'Clash of the Titans'Louis Leterrier. The action director has quietly become front-runner, and if 'Clash' opens to big numbers over the weekend, then it would seem likely to be his next project. Brian K. Vaughn's spectacular series centers on Yorick, a good looking young amateur magician who manages to escape a manpocalypse virus, which leaves just him and his pet monkey Ampersand as the only two living males in the world... It spans 5 years, and details his journey to reach his girlfriend in Australia. The virus wipes out everything with a Y chromosome (hence the name) but the details of how the virus works or where it came from are left hazy, leaving the story to concentrate on the human aspect of the tragedy, and the varying ways in which the surviving women deal with the problems this brings. The story which probably rivals 'Preacher' and 'Sandman' as a long standing, mass epic that is most wanted for the screen by funnybook aficionados, had been tied to director D.J. Caruso for the past three years, with his 'Eagle Eye' and 'Disturbia' star Shia LaBeouf set to lead. Latino Review who carry the scoop, talk of in-fighting at New Line since they were absorbed by Warner Bros; with two managers having completely different visions for what a 'Y: The Last Man' movie would look like. This resulted in many, many screen drafts - one even written by Vaughn himself.... Somehow in the midst of all this, Leterrier has become front-runner and having recently talked himself up for 'The Avengers' directorial vacancy, it's worrying times when a mediocre helmer like he suddenly finds himself talked about for A-list material. Our brains are still trying to recover from his version of 'Hulk', which felt more like a bad video game on the big screen than a comic adaptation. 'Y: The Last Man' may prove to be part of the silver lining on the cloud of comic book adaptations that's currently precipitating over Hollywood but I hold grave concerns over whether the vast episodic epic will be somewhat crushed by the relatively meagre timespan afforded by just one film, if indeed this is the plan. Apparently, Caruso "definitely saw it as a trilogy", which I suppose is one way of keeping all the greatest hits of Vaughn's work and would mean a sort of 'I Am Legend' meets 'Lord of the Rings'. Whether people will dedicate as much time and money to a relatively unknown comic story about one man and his monkey is a different matter, but if trilogy is still the plan, it could prove to be a good move if it gives literary adaptations more room to breathe in the future, provided it's a format studios decide to take up more regularly. Leterrier doesn't have many good credits to his name (we are struggling to find one, actually) and he feels like a stepping down after Caruso - but in the game of comic book property sacrifice; sadly - I would give up 'Y: The Last Man' to Leterrier if it meant someone else would direct 'The Avengers'. But in an ideal world - both properties which have so much potential, would find there way into the hands of smarter filmmakers.