Panel Report: Solomon Kane
Posted on Saturday July 25, 2009, 21:49 by James Dyer in Comic-Con Diaries
When he wasn’t writing Conan stories, fantasy writer Robert E. Howard turned out a series of pulpy adventures featuring Solomon Kane, a 16th century Puritan asskicker with a slouch hat, two flintlock pistols and a whole lot of attitude. And finally Solomon’s getting his own movie, with the ace James Purefoy (best known for his reptilian Mark Anthony in HBO’s Rome) in the hero role and Michael J. Bassett directing. The two of them, along with producer Samuel Hadida, graced Hall H to give the crowd a first look at the movie. Our verdict? This could be devilishly fun. The Puritan pugilist’s mission is to hunt down evil spirits and send them packing back to hell, leading to a heck of a lot of supernatural-tinged combat. We see him wielding twin swords against a burly beserker wearing a mask of human skin, taking on a 20-foot-tall flame-demon, and dispensing the line, “If I kill you, my soul is bound for hell… But that’s a price I’ll gladly pay.”
Apparently it was Purefoy’s least comfortable filming experience ever, with a sub-zero Czech winter causing havoc on the set. “Mike would throw these rain machines at us,” he says. “I’d look up and there’d be another rain machine! One day it got so cold there was frozen rain on top of everyone’s umbrellas. And my clothes froze on me – they had to chuck hot water on me constantly so I could keep moving!” Bassett apologised, but Hadida pointed to the crowd and retorted, “We’re not sorry – all that was for you guys!”
Hopefully it will pay off for Purefoy — as Bassett pledges, “If James isn’t a superstar after this, I’ll eat my hat.” They’re already thinking sequels, having determined that this should be a trilogy. “We want the next one to be set in Africa, going into the origin of the ju-ju staff, the cat-headed staff of Solomon,” says Bassett. “And for the third one we’ll go to America, bringing in the Native Americans.” Sounds like the action will be ramped up, too; Bassett promises a scene in which Kane is on a rope bridge, with lions coming at him from each side — on fire! “Sammy won’t give us the money for the CGI,” he laughs, “so we’re going to have to do it for real…”
