Mark Hamill brings The Black Pearl to the big screen
Mark Hamill is directing a feature version of his comic “The Black Pearl.”
Published by Dark Horse Comics in 1996, the five-part comic was co-written by Hamill and Eric Johnson, illustrated by H. M. Baker, and inked by Bruce Patterson and Dan Schaeffer.
The story focuses on Luther Drake, a troubled man who becomes a costumed vigilante “hero” by accident and media pressure:
“My two co-writers wrote a David O. Russell film for Paramount,” Hamill said, “and now they’ve very hot. So now there are people who are willing to give us $30 million to make the movie. But if we took that deal, I wouldn’t get to direct.
“If you go over about $8 million, you have to start getting foreign sales before you start shooting. But if you stay in the $5-to-$7 million range, you don’t have to do presales and you can maintain much more creative control.”