Scots comic writer Mark Millar is toast of Hollywood after Wanted
Jun <http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity-interviews/2008/06/26/ > 26 2008 By Rick Fulton SCOTS comic book writer Mark Millar's life is about to change for ever, all thanks to Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. Mark is the man behind the story of summer blockbuster Wanted, which hit cinemas last night. And if Angelina and Scots star James help him to box office glory, Mark knows how he'll celebrate - take a day off and go to Ayr with wife Gill and daughter Emily, nine. Laughing, the writing wizard, of Glasgow, said: "I can't drive so I won't be buying a flash car. We live in a nice house already and I dress the same as I did at university. "There's actually nothing to spend it on. If things turn out well at the weekend I'll take Monday off and me and the family will go to Ayr for the day. But I'll be back at work on Tuesday morning." Life couldn't be much better for Mark right now. Not only is he one of the best-selling comic book writers in the world, Wanted is the first in what could be a long line of film adaptations of his work. Released in the UK and America yesterday, he knows that across the pond he won't get a No.1 movie as Pixar's latest animated movie, Wall-E, is also released this week. But with Angelina and James starring in the Û110 million film, Wanted is still expected to be huge, setting Mark up as Hollywood's latest source for big superhero movies. "This weekend is either life changing or it's a dud," said Mark. But the truth is he is on a roll. Kick-Ass, the next movie adapted from one of his comic books, starts filming in August and will be directed by Matthew Vaughn, the man behind Stardust and Layer Cake. It will be out next year, with two more films in the pipeline, War Heroes and Chosen, both created by him. Wanted 2 is also mooted. As well as his own creations that he releases under his Millar world line of books, Mark also writes for Marvel, which means working on comic book legends like Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and X-Men. He also helps on their films as a script doctor, working most recently on Iron Man. He must be a very, very rich man. But Mark, speaking before a special screening of Wanted at the Cine world, Glasgow, on Tuesday night, claims he won't believe it until he sees the money in the bank. He said: "None of the money is in yet. I'll believe it when I see the cash. I'm not anticipating anything. "Anything that shows up I'll be really happy with. But I hear stories from other writers who say by the time they work out the expenses, the amount of money is actually c**p." Money doesn't seem to be all that important to Mark, but then he's had more hardship than most. Both his parents passed away when he was still in his teens. His mum died of a heart attack when he was 14. His dad died four years later. How proud would they have been to see their son creating a Hollywood movie starring Angelina Jolie? Mark said: "It would be lovely if they were here to see how well I've done, but I've got a really tight family of brothers and my sister. "They were all there on Tuesday. The family is still together. We are so close, not a week goes by when I don't see all of them. Our parents dying made us even closer. We are like The Osmonds, we see each other all the time." The youngest of six children by 14 years, he trained to be a priest but left to go to Paisley University, although he had to quit his degree in the final months because of mounting debts. He dropped out and, with nothing to lose, tried to get a job writing comic books, getting his break at 2000AD comics. He was headhunted by DC Comics, who got him working on The Authority, and he made his mark by creating the first gay kiss between two male superheroes. MARK'S notoriety continued with Superman:Red Son in, which the superhero grew up in the Soviet Union instead ofAmerica. The writer was then head-hunted again, this time by Marvel, who asked him to shake up The X-Men. Since then he's become one of the biggest-selling UK comic book writers, but he's staying put in his suburban Glasgow home. He said: "Scotland is important to my writing. "My agent and attorney want me to move to LA. They think it's a matter of time or money, but I tell them, 'You don't understand the difference to where I stay. This is where I get all my ideas and my life experiences from.' "If I lived in LA I'd just write like everyone else. Wanted is an unusual superhero movie, it's dark and black sense of humour. My pals over there are all on their second wives and do drugs. It's a world I don't want my kid to grow up in. I've been married since I was 23. I have a really normal set up. "My job sounds glamorous, but I'm sitting in Glasgow in a spare room in the attic, writing on a computer all day and walking the dog at night. "Hollywood and the comic books will all end. It might end in two years time, it might end in 10, but it's nice to know that everybody who hangs about with me isn't doing it because I'm a Hollywood guy. "I've got a normal life, I will have something to fall back on when it all goes belly up. And the idea of my daughter having an American accent appals me." Instead, Mark is bringing Hollywood to Scotland - screening Wanted in Glasgow is a huge deal. But then for Mark it's a full circle. He said: "The whole thing started at Queen Street Station. I had the idea there and bought a pad and started jotting down notes. "The original title was The Killer, but by the end of the journey I'd scribbled it out and put Wanted. "So Glasgow was where it was conceived and having the screening 300 yards away at Cineworld is nice." The film stars James McAvoy as office drone Wesley Gibson, who has almost given up on life when he meets Fox, played by Angelina Jolie, who recruits him into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad's death and become an assassin that can bend bullets. It's a hugely entertaining and often violent film which helped Mark to meet the world's most beautiful woman, Angelina, watching Little Britain DVDs in her trailer. He said: "It was weird, Angelina doing a David Walliams voice and I'm thinking 'Is this really happening?' "I found her absolutely lovely. You hear all the Chinese whispers about what big stars are like, but she was smart, funny and down to earth." While he is an executive producer on Wanted, he is a full producer on his next movie Kick-Ass. He claims there are some A-list names involved in the film about an ordinary boy who becomes a superhero. But Mark's big dream is making a Superman movie. He said: "Since I was a kid I've always wanted to reinvent Superman for the 21st century. "I've been planning this my entire life. I've got my director and producer set up, and it'll be 2011. This is how far ahead you have to think. "The Superman brand is toxic after that last movie lost Û200million, but in 2011 we're hoping to restart it. "Sadly I can't say who the director is, but we may make it official by Christmas. "But fingers crossed it could work out, that would be my lifetime's dream." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
