Splice Director Natali Wants His Own Take On Swamp Thing

Right now only the most devoted horror fans are aware of Vincenzo Natali, who directed 1997's Cube and had his new film, Splice, at this year's Sundance Film Festival to horrify and thrill audiences. But with Splice coming to theaters this summer on a wave of great reviews, Natali may be on the verge of having a lot more power in picking his projects-- and he already knows what he wants to do next.

MTV caught up with the director at WonderCon last weekend, where he told them about his idea to adapt Swamp Thing, the comics version that Alan Moore reinvented in the early 1980s.

"[Swamp Thing] kind of became... I don't want to call him an ecological superhero, but he became an ecological character quite unlike anything you've ever seen before," he explained. "It's a comic book, but it delves into some very interesting stuff, both psychological and philosophical."

Knowing nothing of the comic book, I always thought of Swamp Thing as a kind of old-school Universal monster in the mold of The Wolf Man or The Mummy, but the mere fact that Alan Moore (he of Watchmen, of course) has a take on it promises there's a lot more there. You may remember that last summer Joel Silver announced his hopes to make a 3D take on the character, but with no news since then it doesn't sound like Silver would necessarily get in Natali's way. Could this be the first-ever example of a weirder, smaller movie pushing the 3D project off a schedule? We can only hope.

Katey Rich

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend