Spawn is a 1997 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name. Directed and co-written by Mark A.Z. Dippé, the film stars Michael Jai White in the title role, and is one of the first films to feature an African American actor portraying a major comic book superhero. Spawn depicts the origin story of the title character, beginning with the murder of soldier/assassin Al Simmons. He is resurrected as Spawn, the reluctant, demonic leader of Hell's army. He ultimately refuses to lead the army in the war against Heaven and turns away from evil. The film co-stars John Leguizamo (as The Violator, Al's demonic guide) and Nicol Williamson (as Al's mentor, Cogliostro). Martin Sheen, Theresa Randle, D. B. Sweeney, Melinda Clarke, and Frank Welker also star in the film.
Spawn | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Mark A.Z. Dippé |
Produced by | Clint Goldman |
Screenplay by | Alan B. McElroy |
Story by | Alan B. McElroy Mark A.Z. Dippé |
Based on | Spawn by Todd McFarlane |
Starring |
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Music by | Graeme Revell |
Cinematography | Guillermo Navarro |
Edited by |
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Production company | Todd McFarlane Entertainment |
Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $45 million |
Box office | $87.8 million |
Spawn was released in the United States on August 1, 1997. It grossed $87 million worldwide against its production budget of $45 million, but received generally negative reviews from critics. The film was Williamson's final film appearance before his death on December 16, 2011.
Screenplay
Al Simmons is a Force Reconnaissance Marine Colonel and Black Ops operative. Jason Wynn, the head of the covert government agency for which Simmons works, assigns him to infiltrate a biochemical weapons plant in North Korea. Unknown to Simmons, Wynn has ordered his top assassin Jessica Priest to murder him while he is on the mission. After Simmons dies, he is set on fire by Wynn and the flames cause the plant to explode. Simmons arrives in Hell, where one of the rulers of Hell - Malebolgia - offers him a Faustian deal: if Simmons becomes his eternal servant and leader of his army in Armageddon, he will be able to return to Earth to see his fiancée, Wanda Blake. Simmons accepts the offer and returns to Earth.
Upon his return, Simmons learns that five years have passed since his death. Wanda is now married to his best friend Terry Fitzgerald, who is living as the father to Al's daughter Cyan. Soon Simmons encounters a clown-like demon named Violator, sent by Malebolgia, who acts as Simmons's guide down the path to evil. He also meets a mysterious old man named Cogliostro, a fellow Hellspawn, who has successfully freed his soul and now fights for Heaven. Simmons learns that Wynn, who is now a weapons dealer, has developed a biological weapon called Heat 16. During a reception, Spawn attacks Wynn, kills Jessica, and escapes with the help of his necroplasm armor.
Following the attack by Simmons, Violator convinces Wynn to have a device attached to his heart that will release Heat 16 worldwide if his vital signs flatline as a deterrent against assassination attempts. However, Malebolgia wants Simmons to kill Wynn and initiate the apocalypse. Spawn confronts Violator, who turns into his demonic form and beats Al down. Cogliostro rescues Al and teaches him how to use his necroplasm armor. Simmons learns that Violator and Wynn are going to kill Terry, Cyan, and Wanda.
Terry sends an email incriminating Wynn to a fellow newsman. Just as the email is sent, Cyan and Wynn enter the room. Wynn destroys Terry's computer and takes the family hostage. Spawn arrives and nearly kills Wynn, but Al extracts the device from Wynn's body instead and destroys it. With his plan foiled, Violator sends Spawn and Cogliostro to Hell, where they both battle the demon before subduing him. Spawn is then confronted by Malebolgia, who tells Spawn that he will never lead Hell's army. Spawn escapes with Cogliostro just before they are overwhelmed by Malebolgia's forces. Violator, having recovered, follows them. A final battle ensues, ending with Spawn decapitating the demon with his chains. Violator's head taunts the group and threatens his return before melting and returning to Hell. Wynn is arrested, and Spawn, realizing there is no place for him in Wanda's world anymore, dedicates himself to justice rather than succumbing to his lust for vengeance.
- Michael Jai White as Albert Simmons / Spawn
- John Leguizamo as The Violator
- Martin Sheen as Jason Wynn
- Theresa Randle as Wanda Blake Simmons-Fitzgerald
- Nicol Williamson as Cogliostro
- D. B. Sweeney as Terry Fitzgerald
- Melinda Clarke as Jessica Priest
- Miko Hughes as Zack
- Sydni Beaudoin as Cyan Simmons-Fitzgerald
- Michael Papajohn as Glen
- Frank Welker as the voice of Malebolgia
Columbia Pictures showed interest in making a film adaptation of Spawn when the comic book was launched in 1992. Negotiations fell through as Todd McFarlane felt that the studio was not giving him enough creative control. He eventually sold the film rights to New Line Cinema for $1 in exchange for creative input and merchandising rights. New Line president Michael DeLuca, a comic book collector himself, expressed interest in having "a character that has as established an audience as Spawn", while declaring that success hinged on an adaptation that "maintains a PG-13 rating but retains its darkness."
As visual effects were an important production concern, the film was to be produced by Pull Down Your Pants Pictures, a company formed by former Industrial Light & Magic artists Mark A.Z. Dippé, Clint Goldman, and Steve 'Spaz' Williams. Dippé was slated to direct the film, with Goldman as producer, and Williams as second unit director and visual effects supervisor. Dippé and Williams, who at the time was the only one of the three still attached to ILM, called the film opportunity "our ticket out of the company". The script would be written by Alan B. McElroy, who, along with writing the Spawn comic book, also wrote many episodes of the Todd McFarlane's Spawn animated series.
Michael Jai White found Al Simmons' character appealing; he described Spawn as "the most tragic character I've encountered in any cinematic production." He says it was a challenge to make audiences sympathize with a government assassin who comes back from hell. White had endure two to four hours of make-up work, including a full glued-on bodysuit, yellow contact lenses that irritated his eyes, and a mask that restricted his breathing. He said that his long-time experience with martial arts helped him to endure the uncomfortable prosthetics, giving him "strong will and unbreakable concentration."
Spawn was originally green-lit with a budget of $20 million. The scale of the visual effects led New Line to continually increase the project's budget, which grew to $45 million — a third of which was spent on the effects. The shooting schedule was only 63 days. To cut production time by a week, Goldman lent $1 million to engage John Grower's Santa Barbara Studios to develop the digitally produced Hell sequences. The visual effects shot count increased from 77 to over 400, created by 22 companies in the United States, Canada and Japan, requiring 70 people and nearly 11 months to complete. Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) did most of the work, creating 85 shots at a cost of $8.5 million. More than half of the final effects shots were delivered two weeks before the film's debut.
The most difficult sequences to render in the film included the Violator, Spawn's digital cape, and some of Spawn's transformations. Visual effects supervisor 'Spaz' Williams, with his previous experience of creating the T. Rex in Jurassic Park, was responsible for realizing the reptilian Violator. Working with KNB Efx Group over several months they created a small 24 reference model, as well as a full size 11-foot model for use in some of the practical shots. The small model was cut up and laser scanned, the data was then used by a team at ILM to create a digital armature of the creature, and to paint and give texture to the digital model. Only then could the character be animated, after which the work had to be converted to regular film stock. Further work was needed to integrate the footage with the rest of the scene, such as matching the lighting and grain of the other footage. The final shot of The Violator was delivered on July 21, 1997. A team at ILM supervised by Christopher Hery and Habib Zargarpour modelled, animated and rendered realistic looking robes, glass elements and a computer generated Spawn. Originally intended as one long shot, the scene was later recut and extended.
Terry Fitzgerald, Al Simmons' best friend before his death, is black in the comics. In the film, he is white, portrayed by D. B. Sweeney. Todd McFarlane explained that this change was made by the studio to avoid having too many black leads, as they believed this would give the false impression that film's target audience was the African American demographic.
In the comics, Al Simmons' murderer was Chapel, a character created by Rob Liefeld for the comic Youngblood, while Jessica Priest, a character created for the film, took Chapel's place in the movie.
The original cut of Spawn earned an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America resulting in the producers toning down the violence in the film to get a PG-13 rating.
Box office
Spawn was released on August 1, 1997. It grossed $19,738,749 that opening weekend, ranking it second behind Air Force One. For its second weekend, the film dropped to number three in the box office, reflecting a decreased earnings of 54.7% and a gross of $8,949,953. Based on a $45 million production budget, it grossed $54,870,174 domestically and $32,969,867 internationally for a worldwide total revenue of $87,840,042.
Critical response
The film received negative reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 18% based on reviews from 45 critics, with the website's consensus stating: "Spawn is an overbearing, over-violent film that adds little to the comic book adaptation genre." On Metacritic it has a score of 34 out of 100 based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.
One of the few positive reviews was from Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times, who awarded the film 3½ out of 4 stars. He wrote that the film's plot was "sappy" and little more than a set-up for some of the most innovative effects of the era, so much that Spawn verged on surrealistic art film. Ebert ended his review with "As a visual experience, Spawn is unforgettable." Gene Siskel his At the Movies co-host disagreed, and said the film lost him a mere two minutes after its introduction. Ebert praised the hellscape imagery and accused Siskel of being dismissive because of the genre, but having liked Batman Siskel was unconvinced. David Kaplan of Newsweek called the film "the summer's most spectacular concoction of visual effects and color" but said that those unfamiliar with the comics might find the story difficult to follow.
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle criticized the weak story, and called the film a visual assault, "is all about style, which will appeal to some viewers and overwhelm most others". Of the cast LaSalle says only John Leguizamo stands out, his "zaniness seems in tune with the action" and he is "lucky enough to have a flashy part". Rita Kempley of The Washington Post calls the film a "muddled revenge fantasy" and criticizes the "nonsensical screenplay" and complains about the "thicket of narrative, punctuated by repetitive action sequences."Todd McCarthy writing for Variety
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