Rumor: Darren Aronofsky Linked To 'Preacher'?

In the wake of overwhelming critical success with Black Swan, I'm surprised that we haven't heard more rumors about Darren Aronofsky being linked to long-standing geek projects. There's the talk, possibly founded, that he's had discussions about Superman, but little else. Until now. A new report says that "Aronofsky is also being targeted to direct Columbia Pictures' big screen production of Preacher."

Newsarama has the report, based on an anonymous source. Sam Mendes was linked to Preacher in 2008, but left the project this year. Joe Carnahan was interested in the job and earlier this month there was another low-key report that a new director had been found and hired, but the person wasn't named.That info seemed to come from producer Neil Moretz, and led to speculation about whether the hire might be screenwriter John August, who has also been interested in the job. But we still don't have a name.Previously, from Peter:

Preacher has a long history of false starts, despite having a loyal following among geek filmmakers. Originally set-up at Kevin Smith's View Askew with a $25 million budget and James Marsden attached as the title character, the project fell into limbo and later found light as an HBO television series helmed by Mark Steven Johnson (fans were not happy about this one). When the one-hour series was first announced in November 2006, Pretty in Pink director Howard Deutch was named to helm the pilot episode. Robert Rodriguez was said to be one of the "many top-shelf directors interested in" directing an episode of the series. I have yet to read the series, but from what I understand, most fans saw it more as a television mini-series than a big screen movie.

The official plot synopsis from the graphic novel follows: "Here's a book guaranteed to offend a bunch of people, not only because of its profuse profanity and graphic violence, but because it's the epitome of iconoclasm. Like a brutal accident, you can't watch but you can't turn away. The story follows an ex-preacher man, Jesse, who has become disgusted with God's abandoning of His responsibilities. So Jesse starts off into the wilds of Texas with his hitman girlfriend and new best friend (a vampire) to find God so that he can give Him a piece of his mind. Despite its superficial perversity, this book contains what may be the most moral character in mainstream comics. A cult hit in the making. Fans of Quentin Tarantino take note."

The 75 issue comic book series was created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, and published between 1995 to 2000.