The Method is about to make itself known to a lot more people. The Image Comics title The Strange Talent of Luther Strode has been optioned as a film by the production company Allnighter, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Luther Strode introduced the world to creators Justin Jordan and Tradd Moore, as well as the murderous self-improvement regimen known as The Method. The series centers around the eponymous Strode, a teenager who mails away for a catalog advertised in a comic book hoping to gain the secret to getting muscles quickly, only to receive an instruction manual from a murder cult as old as the human race. When The Method starts to work, Strode finds himself not only stronger and faster than before, but also just a little more homicidal than he expected — a fact that draws attention from a lot of different people.
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The Strange Talent of Luther Strode ran for six issues starting in 2011, and returned for two subsequent series — The Legend of Luther Strode in 2012, and The Legacy of Luther Strode, in 2015. All three were created by Jordan and Moore, who will act as producers on the big screen adaptation; Jordan is also writing the screenplay.
“Luther Strode remains one of my very favorite things I’ve ever worked on and getting the chance to bring it to a new audience as a film is exciting beyond belief,” writer Jordan said in a statement. “Especially since Allnighter is dedicated to staying true to all of the foundations — from the tone to the mythology, and, of course, the kinetic action exemplified by Tradd’s artwork — that people have loved about the comic.”
Jordan’s Spread is currently in development for the screen, while Moore’s 2019 collaboration with writer Ales Not, The New World, is being adapted as a movie for Warner Bros. Pictures.
The Strange Talent of Luther Strode will be the latest project for Allnighter, the new production company formed earlier this year by Dinesh Shamdasani, Amanda Kruse, and Hunter Gorinson, the executive team that had previously led Hivemind, the company behind Netflix’s The Witcher and Amazon’s The Expanse, as well as Sony Picture’s 2020 release Bloodshot.
Current projects in the works for Allnighter include Weird Fantasy, a television series based on the iconic EC Comics series; Illuminatus!, adapting Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea’s science fiction trilogy; and Final Fantasy, the first live-action adaptation of the famous video game series.
Shamdasani described The Strange Talent of Luther Strode as “one of the most beloved comic book series of the past decade and with good reason. Not only is it a master-class in the best that comics have to offer, but it’s horrifying, heartfelt, and funny all at once. Whether you like superheroes or horror, Strode is the rare series that equally speaks to the core of both genres and creates fascinating new dimensions in the process.”
“Allnighter is built to celebrate not just the things we love, but the artists that have something new and distinctive to say about them as well,” added Kruse. “Luther Strode’s unique perspective is a perfect example of that mandate in action.”
