http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=40440First Look At TV's New Constantine
Matt Ryan prepares to blaze hell
As previously announced, Matt Ryan has the lead as the titular blue-collar mage in NBC's new Constantine TV series. Now, here's our first look at him in costume, and it's a get-up that should be pleasingly familiar to anyone au-fait with the DC/Vertigo Hellblazer (and Swamp Thing) comics in which the character originally lurked.
Trenchcoat, tie, white shirt, blonde hair: it's practically a uniform, and damn close to the images (based on Sting, of all people) drawn by the likes of Rick Veitch, Steve Dillon, Glenn Fabry, Tim Bradstreet et al. The one thing that's missing is a cigarette, but there does seem to be some wispy smoke swirling around him from somewhere. As a notoriously duplicitous cove, maybe his pants are on fire.
Ryan, who has prior credits in Torchwood and The Tudors, is a Welshman rather than a Scouser, but while we can't yet hear his Constantine, we'd say he's looking promising. He's certainly closer to source than the Keanu Reeves version from 2005.
Looking to find another success to sit alongside Smallville, Arrow and, they hope, Gotham, DC and Warner Bros. put DC go-to comics adapter David S. Goyer and showrunner Daniel Cerone to work on the pilot script. Empire's pal Neil Marshall - currently making something of a new name for himself in television following Game Of Thrones and Black Sails - is directing, and the signs are good that Constantine will develop beyond the pilot stage into a full series. Shooting is underway right now.
