How Alien director Ridley Scott was persuaded to help create a graphic novel, Modville
Modville was pitched to Scott’s company by creator Jesse Negron. Scott, an artist himself, lent his visual talents to the project
When Ridley Scott, visionary director of Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator, connects with your story, it’s probably a good idea to explore it in any medium possible.
Modville, a four-issue neo-noir graphic novel set in New Orleans in 2169 that unfolds in a world of crime and artificial humans, known as mods, was just that story.
Created by Jesse Negron, the comic touches on themes of father-daughter relationships, morality and humanity.
The comic series bucks the current trend of reframing superhero narratives. Instead, it is from an original idea and will go direct to consumers as opposed to being released by a big publisher.
Negron, who had previously worked with the director and his late brother, Tony Scott, pitched the idea of doing a comic book to Tom Moran, senior vice-president of Ridley Scott’s film and TV company Scott Free Productions.
“Tony was a big fan of Jesse’s. We met and talked about his ideas, and I said, ‘Well, what do you want to do? Film or TV?’ He said, ‘I really want to do comics, but you guys don’t do that’.”