Wu-Tang Clan front man, RZA, is throwing down in Hollywood in a major way. You may have seen the trailer for his riotous up-coming, Tarantino-esque, Kung-Fu flick, The Man with the Iron Fists already, but more trailers are in his future as he signs on to help adapt Happy!
Comic book giant, Mr. Grant Morrison is behind the comic book, called Happy! The story’s main character is Nick Sax, a shady former police officer who has become a hit man. I like him already. Sax is on a hit and it goes south, leaving him pretty badly hurt. These circumstances suddenly open Sax’s eyes to see Happy. Wait until you hear who and what Happy is.
He’s a horse. He’s a small, blue horse, with donkey ears, buck teeth, small feathery wings, and oh yes, a unicorn’s horn. And this hardened criminal is seeing visions of Happy. Happy is a real go getter, a positive, type-A personality, and his motto is to never give up. This is one crazy, exciting, hilarious premise. I can already see Mark Wahlberg cast as Nick Sax. Better yet, how about Donny Wahlberg?
As you would expect from the adult material within an Image comic book, the comic includes graphic sexuality, language and violence. This all makes the little blue sprite all the more hilarious. Did I mention that Happy is always, well, happy? In juxtaposing the cartoon carelessness of Happy and Sax’s gritty, ugly world, the character may just find redemption for all his darker deeds. I guess Happy is the angel on his shoulder.
The comic book first appeared only last month from Image Comics with art by Darick Robertson. THR called it a cross between It’s a Wonderful Life, Sin City and Care Bears. That’s priceless. And now it is soon to be a movie.
RZA is making his directorial debut with The Man with the Iron Fists and really hopes to direct Happy! on the big screen, too. He’ll also produce the project, alongside Reginald Hudlin, the same producer working with Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained. In fact, RZA and Tarantino will be mentioned in the same breathe fairly often, I should think, but more on that in a moment. Grant Morrison will write the script himself, to ensure extra goodness. No studio has signed on yet.
The trailer for The Man with the Iron Fists is a real showstopper. In the tradition of Kill Bill, Kung Fu Hustle, and other cool, darkly comedic, violent films, Iron Fists was written by RZA and Eli Roth. Quentin Tarantino agreed to place his name on the film with a “presented by” credit. It does look a lot like his style. In it, Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Byron Mann, RZA, and Jamie Chung play a colorful assortment of warriors and assassins in 19th century China. There’s going to be a killer soundtrack and some wicked martial arts. It comes out November 2nd, and if it does well at the box office, excitement should grow for the Happy! adaptation in turn.