Incredibly promising movement in Marvel Television and ABC’s team up for a new live-action Incredible Hulk series is news that Oscar-nominated director Guillermo del Toro (Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) and BSG executive producer David Eick (BSG: Blood and Chrome, Bionic Woman) are on board to develop the series.
Early word is that the series will be an origin story of physicist Bruce Banner and his mean, green alter ego. Breaking from what viewers have come to expect with the Hulk on the big screen, this television series will employ Del Toro’s preferred method of special effects with the use of prosthetics and puppetry, as well as some CGI instead of leaning heavily on CGI effects. Del Toro will also be very hands-on in the creature design of The Hulk that will be influenced by the character’s traditional comic book look and the original 1978-82 Incredible Hulk series with Lou Ferrigno.
This isn’t the first time that Del Toro has thought about The Hulk. He initially had pursued a film adaptation in the early nineties. Del Toro talked about his affinity for heroes and monsters and his partnership with Eick on this project:
“I have always been attracted at the combination of comic book heroics and monsters, Jack Kirby’s Demon or Kamandi or DC’s Deadman or Marvel’s Dr. Strange, Morbius, Metamorpho, Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, etc… [David and I] coalesced a respectful but powerful way of retelling the Banner/Hulk story in a fresh way.”
Eick added that working on The Hulk is like working on “one of the crown jewels of the Marvel world for generations”:
“I’ve enjoyed the challenging, rewarding process of revisiting beloved characters. [This presented a] dream opportunity to join one of my all-time filmmaking heroes, Guillermo del Toro, in a faithful but unique retelling of the primal, emotionally-rich tale of one of my all-time comic book.”
This is a priority project for newly minted Marvel Television. Marvel is looking to launch The Hulk series after the July 2012 premiere of The Avengers.
[Source] Deadline
