We haven’t really had much news come down from The Secret Service. The film is being adapted by Matthew Vaughn, based off the comic from Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. The movie will follow a nephew who is being trained by his Uncle, a member of MI6, to stop bad guys who seem to be going after celebrities like Mark Hamill and Elton John. Below, Mark Millar updates us on the progress of the film.

Miller talks about developing the project:

[box_light]”The Secret Service” actually started back in 2008, believe it or not. I remember Matthew [Vaughn] and I were in the pub around the time the first “Kick-Ass” movie filmed and just talking about films, as we do most days.” He continued, “He’d been talking to the Bond people about doing “Casino Royale” at one point, and we were both saying how it was weird that in a Bond reboot, an origin of sorts, they didn’t really do Bond’s origin. It’s a brilliant movie and no harm intended, but we were both just saying it was a shame that the 00 status he’s given in the opening wasn’t maybe a first act or maybe even an entire movie and that conversation was really the genesis of the whole idea.” [/box_light]

Filming is going well along, but the long part is the post-production. Millar is happy that they nailed the actor choices though and goes on to talk about how great the actors are at bringing about the characters.

“Taron is exactly Gary Unwin. Without question. He just looks like Dave’s drawing come to life. Colin, likewise, looks like he’s stepped out of the comic. It’s just fantastic and having a couple of Oscar winners like he and Michael Caine just gives this project such a huge gravitas. Sam’s character in the book is more of a Mark Zuckerberg character, an internet entrepreneur who falls for this big global warming concern that’s genuinely given me sleepless nights since I first read James Lovelock’s “Gaia” books in my twenties. We talked about a lot of young, 20-something actors, but really there was nobody available who felt right and this part really needed a big American movie star since so many of the other parts are British. But then Matthew buzzed me up and suggested Sam Jackson, and it clicked into place. When he read out the dialogue in Sam Jackson’s voice, this great scene he and Jane wrote between Sam’s character and Colin Firth’s, I could totally see it.”

Will there be a chance for a sequel?

“Well, Matthew, Dave and I have had a couple of ideas, which are very interesting, but there’s only so many hours in a day and I’ve really been focusing on other stuff at the moment. The whole Millarworld Universe thing is kicking off in March, and ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’ and ‘Kick-Ass 3’ are wrapping up as well as launching all the new titles…Matthew’s really keen to turn this into a franchise though. He’s producing “Superior” next, though we haven’t decided on a director yet, so I guess it’ll be a little while before we can all sit around a table and plan anything else with these characters. The movie, I think, is going to be massive and it’ll be lovely to have that out there again giving the book a nice big mainstream profile.”

Thanks to CBR for the scoop!

Millar always has something planned, so we’ll have to wait and see. The Secret Service is due out next year, on March 6th, 2015. As more news comes to DFAT, we’ll keep you posted!

~chaz

Secret service 6 cover