Being familiar with the Warren Ellis original property, I was curious going into the panel for Summit Entertainment’s Red to see how far the tone of the film was going to change from the dark, violent graphic novel to the lighter blackly comic adaptation.

Moderator Eric Mora, Editor in chief of IGN Movies, introduced original Red comic creator Warren Ellis, artist Cully Hammer, producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, and actors Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, and Bruce Willis to the panel.

Bruce Willis praised the work of his co-stars, Mirren noted that with her and Morgan Freeman that they had both “the Queen and God” in the film, as she sported a Harvey Pekar memorial sweater. Warren Ellis noted that his motivation for allowing his property to be adapted was “lots of money… I could buy most of you now.” He wanted the producers to roll with the film in whatever direction they wanted.

Filming has begun in for the new cinematic adaptation of the Warren Ellis graphic novel, Red. The Summit Entertainment production started principle photography in Toronto this week, and with a strong cast and crew, it looks to find some of that sought after success in the world of comic book adaptations.

The film’s impressive cast features Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Academy Award®-winners Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ernest Borgnine, John Malkovich, Karl Urban (Star Trek, Lord of the Rings), Brian Cox (Super Troopers, Troy), Julian McMahon (Fantastic Four, Nip/Tuck), James Remar (Dexter, Battlestar Galactica) and Rebecca Pidgeon (The Unit, The Shield).

In this world, there is nothing more refreshing than someone saying “no” to the misguided and highly-confused Hollywood machine.

The New York Post is reporting that Phil Carlo, author of The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, has pulled out of his deal with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to turn his book into a movie. The reason: di Bonaventura wanted to cast questionable budding superstar Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe, Step Up) in the lead role of the Ice Man, Richard Kuklinski. If you’re not familiar with Kuklinski, then this doesn’t really affect you either way. Believe me when I say that would have been one of the most disgusting casting choices in the history of cinema.

In case you’re not familiar with him, Richard Kuklinski was a man who claimed to have killed 100 to 200 people, and this being true would not surprise me in the least. At first, he was just a purely cold-blooded killer who told stories of murdering people with no remorse for every-day things that simply piss you and I off, like road rage. When the mafia caught wind of his…ability…to kill without a second thought, they went out and hired him as their hitman. He obtained his nickname, Ice Man, due to the fact that he threw the bodies of his victims in a giant freezer to make determining the time of death nearly impossible. He died in prison in 2006.

Click over to see a video featuring one of history’s most dangerous men ever to exist.