89. The Apocalypse War
There are a lot of crazy story arcs in the Dredd universe. Zombie pandemics, Dark Judges killing millions of people, the Cursed Earth which is a playground for the wild and the bizarre. Be it dinosaurs, mutants, old robot armies and telepaths. If you can think of it, chances are it exists somewhere in that blasted atomic wasteland. However one of the biggest and devastating Dredd story has to be the Apocalypse War. This story spanned a large number of issues, starting with Block Mania, in which the citizens of Mega City One turned into violent sociopaths (moreso than usual). What follows from that was a Soviet plot and invasion of Mega City One, the entire south sector being nuked, the assassination of Chief Judge Griffin, guerilla warfare and a suicide mission with Dredd and his very own band of baste*ds.
How Close Is It To Being Made?: While a movie could in no way cover the many intricacies of this massive story, it wouldn't be impossible. Drop the block mania part of the arc and focus solely on the Soviet invasion of Mega City One. If the new Dredd is turned into a trilogy of films then it could be set after the second film, which from the looks of things will feature the Dark Judges if it ever happens. Judge Death and his merry band of executioners always exact a high deathtoll. The city would be in a bad way, and pave an opening for a soviet invasion.
Suggested by Corey Milne
88. The Left Bank Gang
A bizarre re-imagining of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and James Joyce as graphic novelists who decide to do a robbery. Norwegian artist Jason applies his signature style of anthropomorphic animals to the literary legends and recreates the details of their personal lives with a few twists here and there. While the "heist flick" may be one of cinemas most overdone genres, The Left Bank Gang would be one of the most unique and oddball heist flicks ever made. The absurdity of seeing early 20th century classical authors getting together to hatch a scheme would make for an unforgettable experience.
How close is it to being made: While no film studio has expressed any interest in The Left Bank Gang so far, it's worth noting that another of Jason's graphic novels "I Killed Adolph Hitler" has been optioned for a movie adaptation. I that movie gets made and becomes a hit, it's rather likely that Jason's other works could become more attractive.
Casting Choices: If the movie were to keep the anthropomorphic style of the graphic novel, it'd merely be a matter of finding good voice actors. If the film makers were to go with normal humans (as is the case for "I Killed Adolph Hitler") then more detail would need to be given to the casting. The four leads could be filled by Christian Bale (as Hemingway), Gary Oldman (as Pound), Jude Law (as Fitzgerald) and Steve Buscemi (as Joyce). As a bonus, Tilda Swinton would be interesting to see as Gertrude Stein. S
uggested by Greggory Basore
87. Scarlet
Set in Portland Oregon, the story follows a young woman named Scarlet Rue, whose life is turned upside down when her boyfriend is framed for dealing drugs and murdered by a corrupt police officer. After waking up in the hospital while recovering from the incident, Scarlet is stunned to realize that no one cares about what happened and that even her family doesn't believe her. Taking matter into her own hands, Scarlet becomes a vigilante and after hunting down the man who destroyed her life, instigates a revolutionary uprising of the people.
How Close Is It To Being Made?: Sadly there hasn't been any interest displayed in turning Scarlet into a movie, but there should be. Aside from having an engaging plot and lots of action, the story taps into a timely theme of people responding to corruption in their government and the reclamation of power that has taken central stage in many parts of the world in the past few years.
Casting Choices: Far more important than getting an actress that can pull off bad ass action scenes, is finding one who can believably come across as a naive innocent whose eyes are opened to sad truth of the world. Chloë Sevigny demonstrated this kind of innocence in her debut performance in Kids back in 1995. She's got the right look of an everyday anybody that would be necessary for the role.
Suggested by Greg Bassore
86. Damaged
Bursting, or maybe that should be growling, out of the publishing arm of Radical Studios, Damaged was created by Michael and John Schwartz, and Executive Produced by Perseus himself, Sam Worthington, and tells the hard-boiled story of brothers Frank and Henry Lincoln. After a traumatic incident 35 years previously the two of them are forced to go their separate ways, each of them choosing to follow their own way of meting out justice. Frank is a detective on the San Francisco Police Force, respected, distinguished, effective, and on the verge of retiring. But we're not talking about Robert Duvall in Falling Down, more Sean Connery in The Untouchables. He may be slightly long in the tooth but you wouldn't knock over his drink. On the other side of the legal divide Henry has etched, shot and killed his way into the life of a vigilante. His desire for justice is just as vehement, it's just that his brand involves a lot more violence than the law can take; think a grey-haired Frank Castle. Inevitably their paths collide when a Russian mafia boss is murdered in San Francisco and Frank, who's trying to handle city politics and his replacement, finds himself in the presence of his long disappeared brother. A brother who may have more than a little to do with San Fran's latest high profile corpse.
How Close Is It To Being Made? This may be a tricky one to call but as Radical is an independent 'entertainment' house (they're the people behind Tom Cruise sci-fi flick Oblivion), the path from comic book page to silver screen is an obvious component of their production strategy. Damaged is certainly cinematic in its scope and with two tough as nails older characters, and a story deserving of an R rating, it would make a welcome alternative to the usual crime, action dramas. Plus, it can't hurt having a movie star as part of the creative team.
Casting Choices: Well, obviously barring spending 90% of character screen time in ageing prosthetics (a la Guy Pearce in Ridley Scott's Prometheus Universe), Sam Worthington probably ain't in the picture, apart from a possible prologue cameo. As for our 50 to 60 year old protagonist and antagonist it is actually quite hard to put familiar actors in the picture; especially as now that Eastwood and Connery have aged beyond even this realm. A lean, mean De Niro for Frank perhaps, and a chance to wipe out a decade or so of mediocre performances. As for Henry, this is where we wish we had a Time Machine and we could pluck Michael Shannon from 2032. If you've seen the trailer for The Iceman, you'll know what I mean.
Suggested by Mark Clark
85. Books of Magic
An ordinary young boy named Tim Hunter discovers a larger world of terror and wonder after meeting four magical teachers and being told of his amazing destiny. Standard stuff, except that this is Neil Gaiman, and so BoM becomes a rumination on the very nature of magic that spans the entirety of time across multiple dimensions in the DC cosmology. Also a Yo-Yo gets turned into an owl that is kept as a pet because this is Neil Gaiman and you just need to roll with shit like that. Its a strange, exciting, and sometimes horrifying odyssey that could give a daring filmmaker ample material for a variety of narratives and tones. BoM could be a mind-bending philosophical epic in the vein of Tree of Life or 2001. Or it could be a coming of age adventure movie like Harry Potter. The varying art styles of each journey opens limitless possibilities for adaptation. A director could tackle the entire story with different looks for each trip, or just pick one leg of the trip (like Fairy Land, or the magical underbelly of the real world) and build a film out of that. The only limit is the scope of the directors imagination.
How Close Is It To Being Made?: It isnt. BoM generated some interest back in the 90s around the same time that Hollywood was obsessed with a) buying every single thing Gaiman wrote and b) doing fuck all with them. BoMs scope and tone (Fairy Land plays a large role) is so utterly against what WBs current interests will be in trying to get a film universe going post-Nolan, you shouldnt expect any new news for this one.
Casting Choices: Hugo Weaving for the facially-obscured, psychotic Mr. E.
Suggested by Brandon Foley