Now that the comics industry has overtaken film, its outstanding writers are starting to step up to the biopic bar. Subversive brainiac Grant Morrison is up next, with a dedicated documentary due in time for next year's Comic-Con International.
A new documentary will map the adventures of counterculture comics hero Grant Morrison.
"He has an uncanny ability to tell stories that are both accessible and progressively avant-garde," explained indie director Patrick Meaney, whose untitled Grant Morrison documentary, previewed in the exclusive clips above and below, will analyze the writer's storied run for Marvel and DC Comics on standout titles like The Invisibles, X-Men and Final Crisis as well as more esoteric series like The Filth and Flex Mentallo.
The relative obscurity of the latter two may not last long, as Hollywood roots around for comic books to follow those from Alan Moore and Frank Miller into cinematic life.
Morrison is working on it, but he's in no hurry. He understands that this type of capitalization has its own internal logic. A film version of his bizarro comic We3, about three weaponized animal cyborgs turning on their programming, has been tossed around development hell for years, recently landing in the unlikely lap of Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson.
That hope will no doubt be rewarded. Morrison's comics are among the most challenging, and rewarding, in circulation today. Whether he's rebooting Batman or Superman, or mashing the perhaps unfilmable Invisibles into a historical, psychedelic and sci-fi mind grinder, the Scotland-born and sometimes Los Angeles-based writer is a minefield of approachable yet envelope-pushing possibilities.
Working with Morrison proved to be a breeze for Meaney and crew, who've shot much of their interview footage in the writer's Los Angeles apartment. They've nailed down the longest interview the writer has ever given and talked with some of his collaborators. The goal is to get a fully authorized final cut screened at next year's Comic-Con in San Diego.
There's a lot of ground to cover. Morrison has lived a very full life, from playing in rock bands to experimenting as a transvestite to becoming, like Alan Moore, a chaos magician. There's a lot of fertile ground in his personality alone, to say nothing of his sometimes autobiographical comics. In the process, Morrison has become a counterculture icon primed for mainstream crossover.
Director Patrick Meaney is shooting a documentary on Grant Morrison, scheduled to premiere at Comic-Con in 2010.
Translating Morrison's genius into an accessible biopic is Meaney's task in the months before Comic-Con arrives. If his work pays off, he's keen to shine a light on some of comics' other comparatively undiscovered titans. But few, if any, can likely hold a cinematic candle to Morrison.