csaOmnipresent megaproducer Joel Silver was at Comic Con this past weekend to help spread the word (and locusts) on his upcoming Warner Bros. supernatural thriller The Reaping, which stars Hilary Swank as a professional “myth debunker” who encounters an unexplainable phenomenon in a small Louisiana town.

We sat down for a quick chat with “Lord” Joel (sans flashy shirt), but it ended up mostly becoming a status report on his upcoming projects – everything from Logan’s Run to Wonder Woman to the possibility (or lack thereof) of a sequel to the great Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Q: When you started Dark Castle to do these genre films, you were remaking stuff – at what point did you realize that you were going to take off into this original direction, and what were the mandates and protocols for what you were looking to do with the genre to say that this is a Dark Castle film?

Silver: Well, we never intended to just remake old movies. The idea was that we were inspired by William Castle and that the first few movies, House on Haunted Hill and 13 Ghosts, were William Castle movies, and we do have a few other William Castle movies in development – we have Macabre, and I Saw What You Did… I want to do The Tingler but I couldn’t get Columbia to do it. But we always intended to do both originals and remakes. House of Wax was only kind of a remake, more of a new approach to old material. But we just want to make movies that are commerce, an affordable budget – essentially one set movies. We usually put all our dough into one thing and make that the design of the show, and try to do it all in that location so we can do it affordably. To just make things that are good ideas, with a visual FX aesthetic but not too costly, and to do things that people haven’t seen before, and make them scary and creepy and smart.

Q: Can you update us on [the Nicole Kidman thriller] The Visiting?

Silver: It’s coming out I think February or March. It’s getting there.

Q: How much will it track Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

Silver: Very little. It has elements of the original book that Jack Finney wrote, but it’s very different.

Q: How’s progress on The Dirty Dozen remake?

Silver: We’re just starting the script. I want to make it, but we’re just starting.

Q: Dark Castle has been involved with the Horror Net TV launch.

Silver: Cable television is a very Byzantine business. I look at the Sci-Fi Channel, I think it’d be fun to have a horror network. I’d like to watch horror whenever I feel like it. I’m trying to get there. I might get there. We were really close at one time, and then we weren’t… and we have another idea now, and if we can pull it off, I’d like to see it. I have a lot of plans for Dark Castle.

Q: I’d like to ask you about Wonder Woman. Joss [Whedon] was struggling with the script.

Silver: He’s delivered a draft that we’re very happy with, he’s doing a polish now. I think we’re close. I think once we get a script we’re all happy with, we’ll let the studio see it and see what they think. If they like the script they’ll let us make the movie. I don’t want to make it unless we like the script. I hope that next year we can be talking about it here.

Q: Would you do a sequel to V for Vendetta?

Silver: V ends. There’s nothing more there.

Q: What about a follow-up to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang?

Silver: I really love Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. That was the biggest bummer for me this year. The picture was a feathered fish – neither fish nor fowl. The audience just didn’t show up. We tried. Maybe the DVD will find an audience. I love the movie, I love Shane [Black], I’d work with him again in a second.

Q: Now that Bryan Singer may not be involved with Logan’s Run, what’s going on with that?

Silver: I’m hoping he might want to do it. He wants to do Superman 2, but maybe he’ll do it before, we’ll see. I have to make a decision what I’m going to do. Bryan keeps flirting with it, and I want to do it with him, but if in fact he won’t do it I’ll make it with somebody else. The script Bryan developed is very different than anything we’ve seen before, you can assume he’d bring a lot to it. He’s based it on the original book, which is very different from the first movie. It’s very smart, very complex. But if he’s not going to do it, I still want to make it.

Q: Are you going to make another movie with [V for Vendetta director] James McTeigue?

Silver: Yes. Nothing set up yet.

Q: Do you have any other TV projects in the works?

Silver: I’m trying this year to expand my television world. I love Veronica Mars. Love the show. The fact we’re still on the air is a miracle. This season’s going to be great. It’s all based on performance. We have a full 22 episode pickup, but it can be shut down at 13. They can tell very soon into the season whether we’ll keep going. They’ve hung with us for two years now, with not a big audience. They’re trying, the promos are great, and [lead-in show] Gilmore Girls has an audience, last year was their sixth year but their biggest in history. This year we’re going to make the show a little less complex. There’s going to be like 8 episodes for the first arc, hopefully let people get into the show a little better.