Constantine Comments

One of the lesser known comic book properties coming to the big screen next year is Warner Bros.' "Constantine," based on the long-running Vertigo series "Hellblazer."

As with any comics movie, there's some fan trepidation, most of it surrounding the casting of Keanu Reeves in the title role of English occultist and con artist John Constantine. The character was created by writer Alan Moore and artists Steve Bissette and John Totleben way back in Swamp Thing #37 in 1983. Moore has said the character exists only because Bissette and Totleben wanted to draw a character who looked like musician and actor Sting, who played a Constantine-like character in the 1982 horror film "Brimstone and Treacle."

The "Hellblazer" series has since become one of the cornerstones of DC's adult comics line, Vertigo, and has featured work from many of comics' top talents including a lengthy stint by Belfast writer Garth Ennis and a controversial one by Warren Ellis.

Producer Lauren Shuler Donner says she first developed the project years ago when she was under contract with Warner, but is glad it came along later so she can use what she learned producing "X-Men" and "X2" on "Constantine." The film is roughly based on an early 1990s Ennis story called "Dangerous Habits," in which Constantine develops cancer and seeks some unusual treatments.

Shuler Donner says that even though the very-English character has been changed to an American for the film, the story and spirit remain close to that of the comic. And the English twist is not completely gone as director Francis Lawrence sees the character as a "Sid Vicious kind of guy," she says. (Fans of the early days of the comic will remember that Constantine once fronted a punk band called Mucous Membrane.)

Other elements from the comic, such as a scene involving a demon who enters a restaurant and loses weight the more he eats, could not be adopted directly because of cost but will appear in a slightly different fashion, Shuler Donner says.

"Constantine" is currently set for release in September.