Will Adkins’ ‘Accident Man’ be another comics-based ‘hit’?

After taking on ‘Doctor Strange‘, Scott Adkins talks EXCLUSIVELY to Impact on how he’s bringing another comic property to the screen: hit-man drama ‘Accident Man‘…

Scott Adkins, who was recently seen in Doctor Strange, has joined the cast of Accident Man, an action title based on a character by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner from the defunct monthly UK comic Toxic!.

Way back in the early 1990s a group of established comic-creators helped creat the anthology title Toxic! Pat Mills, Kevin O’Neill, Mike McMahon, John Wagner and Alan Grant, who had all made their names at 2000AD wanted an outlet where they could retain the rights to their creations, rather than them being owned by the company for whom they were employed. Apocalypse Ltd took up that challenge offering the deal they wanted. The anarchic, mature-readers title lasted for just over thirty issues, changing the face of British comics with its full-colour content, but was unfortunately felled by some clashes of tone and the company apparently failing to pay some of those creators for their work. It did however produce a number of characters that would continue elsewhere… for example, Mills ultimately saw his Marshall Law, Sex Warrior and Accident Man go to Dark Horse Comics in the US.

Now, after some subtle hints from the actor over the last week, Scott Adkins has been announced as the lead in a live-action version of Accident Man looks due to start filming early next year in London. Adkins plays Mike Fallon a high-class hitman whose trademark is to make all his ‘hits’ look like accidents, even if that requires a lot more planning and ‘execution’ than most of his peers. He lives the high-life with considerable money and female company, but is life is changed when his ex-wife Beth, a Greenpeace activist, is murdered and he goes on a much less covert personal mission to bring her killers to justice… or rather a swift end.It turns out those guilty of the crime may be closer to him than he realises…

Jesse V. Johnson will be directing the film and Stu Small is co-penning the the film’s script with Adkins (with Adkins also acting as a producer).

The other high-profile names involved in the project include Ray Stevenson (The Punisher, Rome) Ray Park (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, X-Men), Ashley Greene (Rogue, The Twilight saga, Pan-Am), Michael Jai White (Spawn, Universel Soldier: The Return, Undisputed 2, Arrow), Amy Johnston (Lady Bloodfight and stuntwoman on many high profile projects) and veteran actor David Paymer.

 

“Accident Man is my passion project, ever since I stumbled across the comic book when I was 14, I always felt it would make a great movie,” Scott exclusively told Impact. “20 years later I thought I’d better just make the movie myself so I bought the rights and here we are! It’s a brilliant subversive piece by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner. Mike Fallon is an unflinching stone cold killer, he is motivated by material possessions and money – he is a sociopath and a true anti-hero. I love characters like this and Accident Man is a perfect role for me to play… with his fascination in martial arts and his very British sense of humour.”

 

“The film is very British, but also full of action. We will pull no punches when it comes to violence. I’m very excited to begin production with a great cast. ‘I’ve wanted to make film for so long. I’ve seen Kick-Ass, Kingsman and Deadpool come and dominate the box office, and all that time I knew Accident Man was as good, and I look forward to bringing Mike Fallon to the screen,’ Scott enthuses.

 

There’ll be more news on Accident Man shortly. In the meantime we can still see Scott on the big screen battling Doctor Strange as the movie continues to have box-office ‘legs’ and there’s the upcoming release of both Eliminators and the highly anticipated Boyka, the fourth chapter in the Undisputed series to look forward to.