BG: It seems Red is gaining momentum, is the script finished for the film? and how would you describe the script you've written?

EH: The script is done and we may start production pretty soon. Summit just hired a fantastic director, Robert Schwentke - who most recently did The Time Traveller's Wife - and we're trying to round out the cast. Red is an action comedy with a lot of really meaty character parts and a lot of heart. The tone's a bit like Butch and Sundance. Both dramatic and comedic at the same time.

BG: It's been announced that Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman have signed on to star in the film do they fit the characters you've written?

EH: They're really perfect. And the studio's making offers to other actors of that caliber, so there may be more big announcements soon.

'Red' To Begin Shooting In January



The film adaptation of Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner's “Red” will reportedly start shooting in January.

According to Mania, principle photography will begin in Toronto before moving to Louisiana. Bruce Willis is attached to star as a retired CIA Agent who is targeted for assassination. Morgan Freeman is also signed for a currently unrevealed role.

Earlier this summer, “Red” director Robert Schwentke exclusively told MTV News that the tone of the film would be much lighter than Ellis’ original story.

“I love the script," Schwentke said. "It's very funny, which the comic book isn't. I like switching gears and this is a movie that allows me to do something lighthearted in tone and is also an action movie."

At the time, Schwentke defended the change in tone as necessary due in part to the short length of the original three-issue miniseries. Mania is also reporting that screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber have expanded the story for the big screen; including the previously unexplored backstory of Willis’ character.

While Ellis is not directly involved in the production of “Red”, he is taking a much more active role in the film adaptation of his ongoing series “Gravel”; which Ellis will write and produce for Legendary Pictures.

True, it won't be exactly what we did, but that doesn't mean it won't be good. Read Peter Benchley's Jaws sometime, and you'll see what I mean.

Shooting Of “Red” So Realistic, Cops Called

by Rich Johnston, February 10, 2010



The movie Red, based on the Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner comic book is filming in Toronto right now. Starring the likes of Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Richard Dreyfuss, all that. And, as those who’ve read the comic know, it’s a guns-a-blazing action adventure.

A little bit too much action it seems.

Because shooting last night in Toronto had a little too much, well, shooting for local residents liking. And both seeing and hearing gunplay on the Keele & Sheppard streets, an area that has suffered gang-related gun crime, several vigilant curtain twitchers called the cops.

Who turned up, arrested Morgan Freeman and shipped him off to some off-the-books gulag. Well, obviously not. But that sounds quite a fun idea for a film too, doesn’t it?

They did turn up with sirens blaring though, look at a few official documents, ate some on-set doughnuts, and left asking Bruce Willis to turn it down a little.

Funny, that’s exactly what the director had just said moments before…