A new animated 'anthology'-styled movie inspired by the Heavy Metal SF and fantasy comics magazine and directed by David (Zodiac) Fincher is in the works from Paramount.Los Angeles-based animation studio Blur, whose credits include graphics for games such as Tabula Rosa (Quicktime movie link), Warhamer Fantasy and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, will provide designs for the adult-skewed project, expected to consist of eight or nine individual segments with different directors.
Fincher, who's also directing comic book adaptation Black Hole, is expected to direct one segment, publication owner Kevin (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) Eastman another and Tim Miller, owner of Blur Studios, a third.
All three will produce the film.
Launched in 1977, Heavy Metal is well known for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica, the brainchild of publisher Leonard Mogel who, according to Wikipedia, discovered the magazine on which it is based, Métal Hurlant, while in Paris the the mid-1970s to launch the French edition of National Lampoon. (Métal Hurlant itself ceased publication in 1987 but resumed in 2002, published by Humanoids Publishing).
Mogel licensed the American version, renaming it Heavy Metal and reprinting strips from Métal Hurlant by artists such as by Enki Bilal, Jean Giraud (also known as Moebius), Phillippe Druillet, Milo Manara and Philippe Caza. Strips specifically for the US Heavy Metal include work by Richard Corben and Matt Howarth, and the current magazine includes features and interviews alongside comics.
Heavy Metal has previously inspired an eponymous animated Canadian movie in 1981 (also an anthology) and a direct-to-video sequel, Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K, in 2000 (although this was based on based on The Melting Pot, a graphic novel written by Kevin Eastman and drawn by Simon Bisley, not stories from the magazine. That comic is currently being serialised on the HM web site).
• Heavy Metal Official Site
• Heavy Metal Fan Page
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