Earlier this year at San Diego Comic Con, Coheed and Cambria front man Claudio Sanchez made the big announcement that he was set to partner with actor Mark Wahlberg and Leverage studios to produce a live-action film based on his fan favorite comic book series The Amory Wars. But since then, things have been rather quiet as to where the film stands and when we can expect things to move forward with it. Only a few months later, could this project already be dead in the water?
Luckily for fans, it isn’t! While not much has actually been revealed about the upcoming film based on the comic from Sanchez and Evil Ink comics, Sanchez recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the status of the film. “It’s [the Amory Wars film] in very preliminary stages, because the mythology is very dense and a lot of parts are already created,” says Sanchez. “It’s just trying to find the right starting point to get people attracted to it.”
‘Amory Wars’ is set in a fantasy universe of Sanchez’s own creation called Heaven’s Fence. The story is actually inspired by the ongoing story told via Coheed and Cambria’s concept albums. “When I started writing these songs I had a hard time as a lyricist giving my story away…” comments Sanchez. “But at the same time as a songwriter that’s my release, I need that in the creative process. For me, creating this concept was certainly a way to tell my story but also hide behind something. I always knew I wanted to tell it in a more detailed fashion– graphic novels and comics– but I wasn’t so sure that it could get this far.”
While the comic series is based loosely on the same story told across the band’s concept albums, don’t necessarily expect Coheed and Cambria’s music to be showing up in the movie! While Sanchez would love to see the band’s music “make a cameo”, he feels that it should be more along the lines of the way Stan Lee shows up in the Marvel movies. “…Maybe the music could pop up once in a while,” he says. He also has stated that he has no plans to actually star in the movie himself, although he plans on being heavily involved with the development of the film adaptation.
“I think the story is pretty universal in terms of the themes and the subplots,” says Sanchez when asked if he thinks that general audiences are ready for something with a mythology as deep as ‘Amory Wars’. “I think people can find a character they can connect to or find as their favorite. And they can get behind the main character as well. It’s a universal story and I think it’s going to draw a bigger audience than just the band’s. I think it has already.”
Claudio Sanchez and band Coheed and Cambria are currently in the midst of wrapping up a U.S. Tour! Their latest album, The Afterman: Descension, is set to release on February 5th 2013.
