Chalk up "Freemind" as one of the latest comic book series to make a serious move toward the big screen. Producer David Uslan (son of longtime "Batman" film franchise producer Michael Uslan) has told MTV News that award-winning director David Nutter has officially signed on to helm a big-budget adaptation of the 2002 Future Comics series.
Nutter, best known as an "X-Files" director and producer who went on helm pilots for a long list of successful television series including "Smallville," "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and "Supernatural," is also a multiple Emmy Award nominee for his work on "The Sopranos" and "Band of Brothers" -- the last of which won him the prestigious award in 2002. The adaptation of "Freemind" is expected to be his first big-budget feature film.
"[Nutter] is a very character-driven director," said Uslan, who's producing the film with Marc Rosen of Rosen/Obsts Productions and Robert Keyghobad. "This was a very non-comics comic book, based purely around a character -- so he's the perfect person for it."
"Freemind" was created by longtime comic book creators Bob Layton and David Michelinie (Layton and Michelinie also authored the "Iron Man" storyline "Demon in a Bottle," in which Tony Stark's alcoholism is introduced), and drawn by Dick Giordano. The series chronicles the adventures of a wheelchair-bound genius who creates an android body in order to live normally, only to discover that he has superhuman powers when occupying the alternate body.
"You know how humans use only 5 percent of their brain? He ends up transferring 100 percent of his mind, so when he goes into this new body, suddenly he has powers that he never thought he would -- mental telepathy, psychokinetic powers, etc," explained Uslan. "The only problem is, he doesn't want these powers. He just wants to be a typical human being."
"He doesn't want to have all these powers and be responsible like Peter Parker," he added.
According to Uslan, the writer for "Freemind" will be announced during their 1:30 PM "Freemind" panel Saturday at New York Comic Con, but keep an eye here on Splash Page for more details.
Intrigued by "Freemind?" Read the comic? Chime in with your thoughts on this announcement in the comment section below!
