"We've been trying to bring Ghost Rider to the screen for a long time," says producer and former Marvel CEO Avi Arad. "Just trying to catch the right tone, the right script. When I got Nic onto the project, it began to take shape. It's incredibly gratifying to see a project through from initial casting to completion."
Behind the camera, one of the first on board was producer Michael De Luca, who is also an ardent comic-book fan. As a young head of production for New Line Cinema, De Luca worked with Arad on the first movie adaptation of a Marvel property, Blade, starring Wesley Snipes. Then, after Daredevil, it was clear that the time was right to bring Ghost Rider to the screen. According to De Luca, the character was in good hands. "When a writer-director like Mark is in creative control of the vision of the film, it's an advantage in every way," he says. "Mark loves comic books -- he's the perfect person to make the leap from the two-dimensional printed page to the three-dimensional movie screen. I think the character has always intrigued him because it's so visual -- the Ghost Rider is such an arresting image."
"Obviously, Mark is a comic-book geek, but he's also a sensitive guy who's not afraid of emotion, which I think is hugely important in filmmaking in any genre," says producer Gary Foster. "He has the enthusiasm he had as a kid and all the knowledge of someone who loves every detail and nuance of these characters."
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