Samuel Bayer to Direct THE BOYS Adaptation?

Haven’t heard of director Samuel Bayer? Sure you have. You have no doubt seen one of his many high-profile music videos. Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, Blind Melon’s No Rain, The Cranberries’ Zombie, Metallica’s Until It Sleeps and most of the videos from Green Day’s American Idiot album are all on the man’s resume.

Bayer is (seemingly) leaving the music video realm behind and making the jump into big features; his first major flick is the upcoming remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. When asked by Slashfilm if Bayer would return for the inevitable sequel, Bayer was quick to shoot his involvement down:

I will not be involved in a sequel…I don’t want to have my next movie be a horror movie. I’m already looking at stuff and I think I’m probably going to do a– it might be an action movie, or there’s a comic book they want to make into a film I’m very attracted to. But I think I’m going to move on and let someone else handle the next one, and it’ll be great.

So no Nightmare II, but what’s this? A comic book movie? While Bayer didn’t let the cat out of the bag in terms of which comic book film he’s interested in directing, he could only stay mum for so long.

In an interview with Shock Till You Drop, Bayer reveals the property he teased earlier: Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s ultra-violent opus of profanity, The Boys. Do note that Bayer is not signed on to direct the film, this is purely wishful thinking from the man.

There’s one comic book I really dig that I want to go after that’s bad-ass. I’d like to get it, it’s called The Boys. It’s about a group of mercenaries and they’re job is to kick the shit out of superheroes who get out of line. It doesn’t get any better than that. In the world of The Boys, superheroes are scumbags.

Now, if you’re unfamiliar with The Boys, I envy you, as it means you will get to experience it for the first time – a wondrous and special occasion you are sure to remember. The book is a hyper-real look at the gritty side of superheroes, filled with hardcore sex, violence and the foulest of language. The book follows a small group of mercenaries hired by the CIA to keep reckless superheroes in check. We launched our inaugural Nerdwatch column with a more in-depth look at The Boys, do check that out.

What do I think of Bayer helming a film version of The Boys? Well, I can’t make a proper argument until after I’ve seen Nightmare, but his music videos are certainly memorable and there’s no doubt Bayer has style. My biggest fear right now is the script. There’s no way any studio would release a direct adaptation of The Boys; it would without a doubt wear a hard NC-17 rating with the sexual content alone. They will no doubt have to water down the sex, and the language and violence alone it will be a severely hard R. Perhaps the impending release and reception of Kick-Ass, a relatively violent superhero film, can pave the way for a less compromised Boys film.

No matter what, the notion of a film based on The Boys is exciting, if not for the fact that it could draw more readers to the genre, and bring some attention to comic book publishers beyond Marvel and DC.

An interesting bit of trivia to note – a character in the book, Wee Hughie, bears a striking physical resemblance to actor Simon Pegg (who actually wrote the forward for the first collected Volume). It kind of goes without saying that Pegg will be in it, should the film actually get made.