The Boys Writers on Simon Pegg and Garth Ennis

Back in 2008, it was announced that “Clash of the Titans” screenwriters Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay had been signed by Kickstart Productions and Columbia Pictures to adapt Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s “The Boys”; an ongoing series published by Dynamite Entertainment which follows a super-powered CIA squad tasked with watching over superheroes and keeping them in line — often in brutal fashion.

While details about the film adaption have since been scarce, Manfredi and Hay recently indicated that they have completed a script for “The Boys” and that a director is currently being sought for the project.

During an interview with Superhero Hype, Hay said “The Boys” was “a total dream project for us because we’re such huge fans of the book and of Garth Ennis.”

“It’s just been amazing,” he added. “Neal Moretz, the producer over there and the studio have been great because they actually really do get what makes the comic book special, and we’re talking to directors on that now, too, so that would be just amazing, and it’s something that’s very close to our hearts.”

Manfredi also indicated that Ennis gave the pair his blessing to make any necessary changes to the script. “[Ennis] said, ‘Don’t be too precious. Feel free to… if you need to kill someone, kill someone.’ Obviously we love love love the books, and the overarching storyline had yet to be finished, so we said, ‘Well, we think this is where it’s going, are we right? Is this going to happen to this character?’ and he was like, ‘You’re close, don’t worry about it. Do what you have to do.’ It wasn’t in a dismissive way, it was in a very generous way.”

“Yeah, and I think ultimately we ended up with the script that we have now,” added Hay. “Which I think is actually quite faithful version of ‘The Boys’ and then the stuff that’s new hopefully very much fits into the world. In short, [Ennis] was really great, because he understands I think what it is to adapt something, but I think he also sensed from us that we knew and loved his work in and out and we’re going to find a way to get that up on the screen.”

Manfredi and Hay were also asked about the possibility of approaching Simon Pegg to portray Wee Hughie — a leading character within “The Boys” that is based on Pegg’s likeness.

“I feel you’ve gotta go for it,” exclaimed Hay. “He’s Wee Hughie!”

“What’s really interesting is that we’ve heard there’s a lot of amazing actors that happen to be huge fans of ‘The Boys’ so it would be amazing to get some of these guys in the cast who really get it, and who really know exactly what’s going on,” added Hay. “But we’ll see how that plays out along the way, but Simon Pegg is amazing.”

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