If Marvel Comics can do something as ridiculous as publish a star-spangled, nationalist hero called Captain America, then it doesn’t make any sense why somebody else can’t let their Canadian freak flag fly and publish a comic book called “Captain Canuck.” Or, at least, that’s what Comely Comix thought back in 1975 when they debuted the character.
Though he’s remained something of an underground figure for these last few decades, the good Captain has been published sporadically all the way up through the 2000s, and now it’s looking like he might be making a super-sized jump to the big screen. The Vancouver Sun (via Cinema Blend) reports that Minds Eye Entertainment is looking to put a movie adaptation of the character’s adventures together, and they’ve hired screenwriter Arne Olsen to get the job started.
Olsen was picked out of hundreds of candidates who sent in 15-page proposals for what Captain Canuck’s adventures might look like in film form, and the 50-year-old says of his hard-won job, “Ninety-nine per cent [of the answers you get] is bad news. It’s so rare where you get some-thing like this. And right now the industry is very tough, so it’s doubly exciting.” Sounds like something of a heartwarming story indeed, but what was Olsen’s vision for the Captain, exactly?
He teases that, instead of making this movie “comic book” and “cartoony” like Marvel’s Captain America feature, Captain Canuck is going to be, “more of a visceral action thriller in the [style] of the Bourne trilogy.” Sounds like there’s a certain Caped Crusader out there inspiring people north of the border. That could potentially be a good thing.
But, okay, most of us probably don’t even know who Captain Canuck is. So what’s the story here? Is this really a character who could swing anchoring a gritty action movie, or is this whole idea a complete farce? Honestly, its chances don’t sound great. The character, originally a secret agent named Tom Evans, runs around with a maple leaf over his face, and he gained super strength from an encounter with space aliens. If there’s any property out there that sounds like it would benefit from a “comic book” or “cartoony” approach, it’s Captain Canuck.
Still, we’ll have to wait and see what Olsen is able to come up with. “We’re trying to take him to more of a 21st century sensibility,” says the screenwriter. “Hipper, with a bit more of an interest in contemporary issues and characters, and the technology and information we have access to.” Will a guy in shiny white pirate boots seem any cooler if he’s holding an iPad? Maybe. And, if not, the results still sound like they’ll be hilarious to watch.