Mike Allred's Madman has been waiting to be brought to film for a long time now.. For several years, Robert Rodriguez has held the theatrical rights to the character, but until recently production on the Madman movie hadn't moved forward. However, in an interview with Newsarama, Allred gave fans an update on the status of the film:

Well, we've just cycled a second draft of the script back. I spent a month in California living at my writing partner's house. (laughs). Actually, (my partner is) George Huang, who did a terrific movie called Swimming With Sharks, which starred Kevin Spacey. George is one of Robert Rodriguez's oldest friends. He hooked us up. We write pritty pritty well together.

I had done a draft of a Madman screenplay back when (the project) was at Universal, and really thought, "wow, there it is, that's my best effort." But when Robert Rodriguez picked it up, I was hesitant to take a stab at a new draft of the screenplay. But after talking with Robert over a long period of time, and hooking up with George - all of the sudden, there was this new spark, and all the enthusiasm I told you about was mixed in there.

It can be a struggle to figure out exactly what the movie should be. It's where it's faithful to the original series, but also feels contemporary and in the now. George came up here and we did an outline, which we took to Dimension Pictures, which is going to finance and release the film.

At that point, it was just carving out the time to put the screenplay together. Now, George was getting married in Italy, so it seemed like the perfect time to go to his place. We wrote out the cards, and broke it down scene-by-scene, and then he went to Italy on his honeymoon while I knocked out the screenplay.

Then, when he got back, we were able to go over it together and give it a polish. And during all this, my family was able to come down and have a mini-vacation and, uh...wreck George's car. Too much information. (laughs). It was a good time. I think the three of us--Robert, George, and myself are very close to sharing our vision for the film with Dimension.

The bottom line is that all the elements I'm excited about are in there, and all the moments that I think the most diehard fans would want are in there.

Right now, we're waiting on the studio notes, and hopefully we'll get the green light and be able to start casting and scheduling. Otherwise, we'll go back for a new polish and start up again. But that's the exact situation we're in now.

Madman was a hitman by the name of Frank Einstein. Frank was killed in a car accident, and then stitched back together and resurrected by a pair of mad scientists. (Just like Frankenstein's monster, and Frank's name is a pun on Frankenstein.) The resurrection left Frank with superpowers and amnesia of his previous life, other than that he was fascinated with comic books. After his resurrection, Frank became Snap City's only superhero.

CLICK HERE to read the full interview with Mike Allred.