Now you might remember a report I did about the Producer of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK gathering forces together to make THIS PRESENT DARKNESS with Chuck Russell as the director. Well a whole slew of 'This Present Darkness' fans have written in to provide us 'non-readers' with the skinny on the book and what they have heard. Well since this is basically a virgin property in my eyes, I figure... what the hell, cry havoc and let loose the geeks at hand. This first spy claim to be ArchAngel Sylvester who was forced out of the heavenly gates for being 'a bad ol puddy tat!' Here's what he knows...
Hey, just thought I'd pass along a little info about "This Present Darkness." I read the book several years ago, and it really is good. It's not actually just about angels vs. demons, but that does occur in the book. The story is actually about a reporter and a pastor who start looking into some deaths that have occurred in a small town of Ashton. Well, they stumble upon a "New Age" plot to take over the town and eventually everyone. It should be really cool movie because the book is non-stop. It tells the origins of the angels and demons also. This book was almost turned into a movie once before, but by a Christian funded organization which would undoubtedly had a smaller budget. Also of note is that a score was partly written by Michael W. Smith. The theme for the book was released on his "Eye 2 Eye" CD and is entitled "Ashton." It's really good. I hope they don't screw up the book by turning it into a movie like they so often do. In fact one of the neatest things in the book is that the demons go by the names of the sins they represent like Greed, Deceit, etc. And the various demons cling to those that carry sin (kinda like their tails are stuck into the person's head). Anyway, there is also a sequel to the book called Piercing the Darkness that was written a couple years later which is almost as good and would make a great movie as well.
And then by far the most intriguing piece of news on THIS PRESENT DARKNESS comes from this... ummmm.... psychotic clown named Leroy Gomm. I like this fella Leroy, I wonder what else this fella knows, cause this stuff here is awfully "innerestin'..."
The mysteriously giggly and pervertedly pudgy circus clown Leroy Gomm here, just a'playin' with my Magic Eyeball-Suckin' Tummy-Eels when I read your post today on a lil' Chuck Russell project calt This Present Darkness. Well, it turns out I been waitin' t'hear somethin' on this project since I seen production sketches and designs for it at a certain secret location out West sometimes last year.
In the art department, there was a young feller a'scribblin' away at some pictures of some neat beasties, I had no clue what they could be for, but I did manage to edge close enough to catch a glimpse of the screenplay on his desk: This Present Darkness. (Too close, too, 'cause one o' my tummy-eels done gobbled up his donut.)
Later, when he was gone, I returned to the secret locale to further investigate: two demons, it looked like, named Ba'al Rafar and Lucien. Ba'al looked to be the big baddie of the film, a leonine creature sitting upright on its haunches, dressed in some gnarly armor and clutching a big-ass sword in its demonesque paws. The other one, Lucien, looked like the henchmen or the right-hand man, a sly, sinewy character, dark and more typically devilish, horns and cloven hoofs, the whole nine yards (or shall I say Cantos, ahahaha!). They are gonna make for some pretty cool action figures one day!
In another room, someone left another picture out, a full color concept sketch for a battle scene between an army of angels and a legion of demons, on a hillside high above a glittering metropolis that looked like L.A. (reminded me of the first WS of the suburbs you see in the beginning of E.T.). The battle scene, set against a stormy sky, showed the demons clambering up through the air to fight their angelic attackers, who looked like they were riding down from the heavens on shafts of golden light. I seem to recall one of the heavenly heroes clutching a golden horn-like thingy (Gabriel, mebbe?)
Later on, I went on-line to see if anyone else knew of this movie, which, from the few pics I'd seen, looked like it was gonna kick ass. I did find out that it was a Christian themed epic set above a small town, but not much more. I'm assuming that the characters' names that I've reported are the same as in the book, but anyways, they looked pretty damn cool. Would love to see that big lion-like mofo whuppin' some heavenly buttocks up there on the big screen, courtesy of the man who brung us Elm Street 3, Dreamscape and The Mask.
Okay, that's all, back to Midian I go.
Respectfully,
the Mysterious Cross-Bred Clown
Prince of Coo-Coo-Ca-Choo,
