Accident Man was one of my favourite comicbook anti-heroes. Created by British comicbook legend Pat Mills, it was the story of Mike Fallon, a devious hitman who made his hits look like accidents. Think Bruce Wayne if it all went wrong. And for years i hoped to see a movie… and it looks like it may not be that unlikely.
During our exclusive interview with Pat Mills (full interview coming this weekend) at Sci-fi weekender the writer revealed his inspiration behind the character of Accident Man, Mike Fallon: ‘The inspiration behind Accident Man came from Tony Skinner, he and I were talking about the character and he mentioned that he knew someone who bumped off people for a living and made it look like an accident. I think he said words to the effect of ‘You only have to look at the headlines over the last five years to know the truth. That’s how it’s done so many famous people commit suicide with no warning, have shock heart attacks with no history of heart problems’. If the truth was out in the press it would be boring and impertinent for comics to cover issues like this. As you well know, with Accident Man we used a lot of real life situations, we certainly touched on the Marconi Murders. As writers, it’s our job to bring this to people’s attention, so the next time you’re reading about an accident you will think is that Mike Fallon?’
With reference to the possibility of an Accident man film in the near future, Pat had this to say: “It has been optioned a number of times, one of them was with a view to a television show. One television executive who optioned it said rather than him being a killer, let’s make him an insurance investigator because American’s love insurance. Ludicrous thinking!
“Currently there is an actor who’s put an offer on the table which we’re looking at. He’s a black belt in karate and all the rest of it. He grew up reading Accident Man, so it’s probable that that will happen, and it will probably happen along that route. Actually, Accident Man’s an astonishing character because that you’d have thought that would’ve been made into a movie because it’s so visual – and it’s easy to get. In other words, it’s a guy who kills people and makes it look like accidents. It’s not rocket science.”
It may not be rocket science, but it’s a damned entertaining concept and is, ahem, executed so well…
Irwin Fletcher
I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.
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