Monday, Jul 30, 2007    Text size: 

Virgin Comics CEO Sharad Devarajan and Chief Creative Officer Gotham Chopra sat alongside Jameson at a press conference held on July 28 as they talked about the new series. “Shadowhunter” will be issued in a limited five-issue series for the company’s “Voices” line, which also features series by the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart and actor Nicolas Cage with his son, Weston.

Devarajan said the company is working with “prolific mavericks in their industries who have been creators that challenged the status quo, giving them a voice in the form of graphic novels to give them a playground to really tell a story and challenge convention.”

“I wanted to make sure that I would be able to bring my spirit and my energy to the comic book,” Jameson said. “And when Virgin approached me, I knew it was going to be the best possible. When they pitched me the idea of this comic book, I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Described by Chopra, Jameson’s character is a woman that has had a near death experience and has to deal with the reality of having returned from a hellish place and also confront past issues of what sent her to the dark side. He said also that Jameson, a horror movie fan, has been very hands-on in the development of her character and the mythology of the storyline.

“That’s one of the exciting things — people have a certain expectation of what they’re going to get. But the cool thing with working her and in listening to her creative input is its redefining,” Chopra said. “We’re not interested in the idea of doing what people might expect.”

When asked if the comic would contain adult content, both Devarajan and Chopra were quick to point out there would be no nudity or explicit content in any of Virgin’s comic book series.

“Obviously, in all the comics we do, we do not include adult content in the form of anything pornographic; erotic, yes, explicit, no,” Devarajan said. “We definitely see that what we’re trying to do with Jenna is we think she’s a great icon to work with and tell a good story, but we don’t see the need for nudity or pornography within that.”

Jameson was anxious to speculate on the potential of the comic series spinning off into a movie, as well as other merchandising possibilities.

She said that she would love to play the comic book heroine on the big screen, as opposed to playing herself in the upcoming production of the biopic based on her best-selling book, “How to Make Love Like a Porn Star.”

“Making a movie based on my life has been a process so far. I felt uncomfortable playing myself. I lived through it once and I wasn’t sure whether or not I could live through it again,” Jameson said. “I tapped Scarlett Johansson to play me. She’s brilliant — not only is she beautiful, but she’s brilliant as an actress.

“So, Universal has bought the rights to my movie and Peter Berg is directing it. It’s going to be a huge project, but when I think about playing a character, that is my passion. That is what I want, so this I look at as my opportunity to showcase my skills as an actress — because anybody can play themselves,” she said.

Johansson’s representatives denied the actress’ involvement in the project when contacted last month for another article that appeared on XFANZ.com.

Virgin Comics is a collaboration between author Deepak Chopra, filmmaker Shekar Kapur and Virgin CEO Sir Richard Branson. Virgin Comics and Animation is headquartered in Bangalore, India, and employs 50 artists and writers on its editorial team. The company also is producing a “Director’s Cut” line which will issue comics series based on plotlines by celebrity filmmakers like Kapur, John Woo, Guy Ritchie and Terry Gilliam.