Page 4 - 2016TVTimes.May22

4 May 22 - 28, 2016
El Dorado News-Times
cover story
Gone preachin’
AMC goes to Texas with its adaptation of Garth Ennis’ ‘Preacher’
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By Brian Craddock
TV Media
Recently, it seems, television has developed a love affair with series based on comic books. From Fox’s “Gotham” to CW’s trifecta of “The Flash,” “Arrow” and “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” some would say that there are too many of them — even online streaming services are jumping on the comic book bandwagon, with Netflix’s “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones” prov- ing immensely successful.
The list of comic-based shows grows a little this week, when AMC (which is already home to the juggernaut that is “The Walking Dead”) airs the premiere episode of “Preacher” — based on the DC Comics/Vertigo series of the same name — on Sunday, May 22.
The “Preacher” comic series is relatively unique in that its entire run spanned only five years (1995 to 2000). Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Steve Dillon, the often vulgar comic book told the story of Jesse Custer, a small-town Texas preacher who some- how finds himself possessed by a heav- enly being named Genesis, who informs him that God has all but abandoned his creations. Incensed, Custer sets off in search of an audience with God, which proves to be just as difficult as it sounds.
Dominic Cooper, who recently starred in another comic book-inspired series, ABC’s “Marvel’s Agent Carter,” plays
the eponymous preacher in the new show, and he’s not the only cast mem- ber with a history of starring in comic book series — Ruth Negga of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” plays Custer’s ex-girlfriend, Tulip O’Hare. Rounding out the main cast is Joseph Gilgun, who starred in the British hit “Misfits” and recently appeared on the big screen in “The Last Witch Hunter” (2015). The BAFTA-nominated actor is set to play Cassidy, an Irish vampire who, through a bizarre chain of events, falls in with Custer and O’Hare.
While on their quest for an audience with God, the trio goes up against
a bevy of bizarre people:To start, there’s the racist, conspiracy-spouting sheriffnamedHugoRoot,playedby “Deadwood’s” W. Earl Brown, and his son, Eugene (Ian Colletti, “Rake”), a deadbeat teen rockstar left deformed after a botched suicide attempt.There’s alsotheQuincannons:VylaandOdin, played by Elizabeth Perkins (“Weeds”) and Jackie Earle Haley (“Watchmen”, 2009), respectively — a lovely pair of slaughterhousemagnates,localbene- factors and proud supporters of the Ku Klux Klan.
Fans of the comic have been eagerly awaiting the series’ arrival since it was announced back in 2013, no doubt in a mixed state of anticipation and appre- hension, as limited/lesser-known comics have something of a rough history when it comes to adaptations (just look at 2005’s “Constantine” starring Keanu Reeves, and last year’s NBC series of the same name).
“Preacher” was a comic infamous for its dark, edgy content.
In fact, part of the
reason it’s tak-
en so long for a TV series to happen is that many networks were turned off when
they realized
how little Jesse Custer practiced what he preached. In 2008, HBO passed on the series because of the comic’s cyni- cal attitude after almost two years of development.
Despite all of this, “Preacher” show- runner Sam Catlin, who spearheaded the series’ AMC revival alongside actor/ comedian Seth Rogen (“Knocked up,” 2007) and Rogen’s longtime partner-in- crime, writer/producer Evan Goldberg (“This Is the End,” 2015), promised fans in an April interview with Collider that, regardless of any changes they make to the content, the show definitely won’t be “Preacher-lite”:
“Garth really pushes the envelope in terms of those stories, and I will say we reallydid,too....There’ssomesillyvio- lence and there’s some crazy violence, but there’s also some real violence and some real sin.”
Rogen admitted to Crave in Octo- berthat,inacontroversialmove,the story progression in the series does not closely follow the comics, saying: “We are changing the specifics of how thenarrativeisunfolding.Alotofthe building blocks we are not changing, a lot of characters we’re keeping, but we want to make a show that, if you’re a fan of the comic, you don’t know what to expect.”
While in most adaptations, straying from the source material would raise many red flags, it’s unlikely to be a prob- lem for “Preacher.” In the comics, some of the most hilarious moments came from the smallest characters, those seen briefly, but years later are still the most memorable. Rogen wants people to know the “Preacher” series is going to have its fair share of zany characters, too.
“To us, the tangential element is one of our favorite things,” he told Crave. “The fact that it does go off into these other worlds and explore these other characters, I mean that’s something that we wholeheartedly intend on indulging in, because it’s one of the best parts about the comic. Just the massive tapes- try of weirdos.”
Despite some significant changes, it seems Catlin, Rogen and com-
pany understand the spirit of “Preacher.”Tune in to see how the series plays out
when it premieres Sunday, May 22, on AMC.
Joseph Gilgun as seen in “Preacher”
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