Adam McKay wanted a ‘The Boys’ film trilogy: Hollywood wasn’t ‘ready’

Oscar-nominated writer/director Adam McKay almost brought “The Boys” to the big screen.

During an interview with Rolling Stone, “The Boys” comic book co-creator Darick Robertson revealed that McKay attempted to adapt the series into a film trilogy. McKay even wrote a finished script and oversaw “the animatic demo of the scenes” according to Rolling Stone, but the film was never made.

“The Boys” then became a Prime Video series.

“I wouldn’t change the way it went, because the show is amazing,” Robertson said. “But he was doing some really cool stuff. Ultimately, it was 2008, not 2018. I just don’t think they were ready for it yet.

“The Boys” TV show is produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, both of whom have previously attempted to adapt the comics.

“We were like, ‘Holy shit, this is fucking crazy,'” Rogen recalls of first reading the comics. “And that week we went to Sony and we were like, ‘You should do this.’ » »

Goldberg added: “And they were like, ‘We should… with someone else.'”

And “The Boys” showrunner Eric Kripke, who previously created “Supernatural,” turned out to be the creator of the beloved series.

“The attributes of the superhero are literally the costume they wear,” Kripke said of the series. “It’s about politics and authoritarianism and the media, and an almost ‘Simpsons’ or ‘South Park’ desire to parody the things of the moment. And the ultraviolence of Sam Raimi. The reason I’m into the genre, period, is because with monsters or demons or superheroes, you’re able to say subversive shit that all the people who write prestige shit and class will never be able to get away with it. And that, to me, is what’s fun.

Kripke also recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he, Rogen and Goldberg began pitching the series in 2016, following the election of Donald Trump.

“When Seth (Rogen) and Evan (Goldberg) and I started the project, it was 2016,” Kripke said. “We just wanted to do a very realistic version of a superhero show, where the superheroes are celebrities who behave badly. Trump said: “He doesn’t really get the nomination, does he? ” guys. When he was elected, we had a metaphor that said more about today’s world. Suddenly we were telling a story about the intersection of celebrity and authoritarianism and how social media and entertainment are used to sell fascism. We are in the eye of the storm. And once we realized that, I felt a duty to run in that direction as far as I could.

Kripke added how the series has remained eerily relevant: “That happens now almost every season, and we write them sometimes almost two years before they air and again we’ll find that the short stories accurately reflect everything that we speak. It’s no spoiler to say that the first episode (of season 4), Homelander (Antony Starr) is on trial. A big concern is, “Can you convict someone that powerful of a crime?” » And what does this mean for the various supporters or people protesting against him? Did I know this was going to be revealed at Trump’s trial? Of course not. But we write what scares or annoys us. Someone asked me last year, about Season 3, “How are you so prescient about cops and over-policing in black neighborhoods?” » Well, this has been a problem for over 100 years. This was a problem five years ago and, unfortunately, it will be a problem five years from now. It’s always the same shit.