Painkiller Jane (film)

Last updated

Painkiller Jane
Genre Superhero
Based on Painkiller Jane
by Jimmy Palmiotti
Joe Quesada
Screenplay by
Story by
  • John Harrison
  • Don Keith Opper
  • Greg Gold
Directed by Sanford Bookstaver
Starring
Music by Brian Tyler
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerHarvey Frand
CinematographyStephen McNutt
EditorAndrew Seklir
Running time82 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network Sci-Fi Channel
Release10 December 2005 (2005-12-10)

Painkiller Jane is a television superhero film based on the Event comic book character of the same name. It was first broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel on 10 December 2005. The film stars Emmanuelle Vaugier as the titular heroine. The film differs significantly from the story of the comic book character.

Contents

The movie was a backdoor pilot for a possible television series, which was eventually approved. The Painkiller Jane TV series appears to be a "reboot" of the TV-movie, discarding the film's backstory and starting anew.

Plot

A Special Forces unit, known as the Painkiller Unit, is exposed to a biochemical weapon while on a mission in Sovetskaia, Chechnya. While attempting to retreat, the entire unit is ambushed and executed by a group of armed men in protective hazmat suits. One member of the unit, Captain Jane Browning (Emmanuelle Vaugier), not only survives the execution, but recovers from the viral infection and develops an abnormally rapid healing factor, increased dexterity, speed, strength, enhanced senses, mental abilities, and a photographic memory.

Jane is studied by a psychiatrist, Dr. Graham Knight (Tate Donovan), though she refuses to cooperate with his attempt at examining her mental state. She is extensively tested by the military, and when her superior Colonel Ian Watts (Richard Roundtree) has her transferred to Alaska for more tests, Jane (fearing they'll never let go of her) escapes with professional thief, Nick Pierce (Eric Dane).

Taking shelter with Nick, Jane meets his companions and lives with them briefly. Before long though she leaves to find out more about what was done to her, tracking down Dr. Graham.

Graham reveals himself to be Captain Lucas Insley. He claims to be investigating Watts, who has created the fake identity of Peter Erfan, the man who ostensibly created the virus she was exposed to.

Jane meets with Watts in a public place for safety, hoping to expose what happened. Watts says that Insley is Erfan, and he created the virus which alters people's DNA to enhance them. Their meeting is interrupted when gunmen attack however, with Jane throwing herself in front of Watts to take a bullet meant for him. After this, she chases after them and runs into Insley.

Insley admits that he is, in fact, Peter Erfan, and has a vial of liquid which he has extracted from Jane. Erfan refers to her as the new Eve, as something in her body altered the virus and then the virus changed her. This is why she survived but the rest of her unit did not.

While they are talking, an assassin starts to move in on Jane, who shoots him. However, Erfan has already been able to recreate the modified virus, and has given it to the assassin. As he is talking with her, the assassin gets up, rips a power box off the wall, and hits Jane on the head with it.

She wakes up in a helicopter being transported away by Insley, who plans to use her for development of his project. Jane escapes from the handcuffs he placed her in though. A struggle ensues in which the helicopter is disabled, with Jane then jumping from it with Insley below her, using him as a cushion. He is later believed to be dead.

The final scene sees a group of Asian men walk into a laboratory and meet with Peter Erfan however. He holds a vial of green fluid, the genetic material for the enhancement virus in a solution. The implication is that Erfan took the solution himself, allowing him to survive an impact with a river after apparently having fallen, and will soon be creating an army of superhumans for the unnamed Asian business partner.

Cast

Reboot

In an interview with Moviepilot, Palmiotti is in progressing on a new film. [1] As of November 2016, Jessica Chastain has reportedly signed on to star as Jane Vasko in the big screen with Lotus Entertainment's Lenny Beckerman producing along with Solipsist Films' Stephen L’Heureux and Chastain through her Freckle Films banner. Bill Johnson, Jim Seibel, Ara Keshishian and Palmiotti will exec produce the film. [2] Christine Boylan was signed to write the script. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Knights</span> Imprint of Marvel Comics

Marvel Knights is an imprint of Marvel Comics that contained standalone material taking place inside the Marvel Universe (Earth-616). The imprint originated in 1998 when Marvel outsourced four titles to Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti's company Event Comics; Event hired the creative teams for the Knights line while Marvel published them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuelle Vaugier</span> Canadian actress

Emmanuelle Frederique Vaugier is a Canadian film and television actress. Vaugier has had recurring roles as Detective Jessica Angell on CSI: NY, Mia on Two and a Half Men, Dr. Helen Bryce on Smallville, FBI Special Agent Emma Barnes on Human Target, and as The Morrigan on Lost Girl. In feature films, Vaugier appeared, albeit in a minor role, alongside Michael Caine and Robert Duvall in Secondhand Lions. She starred as Addison in Saw II, reprising her role in Saw IV, and had a supporting part in the Josh Hartnett film 40 Days and 40 Nights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painkiller Jane</span> Fictional superhero from Event Comics

Painkiller Jane is a fictional superheroine created by Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada for Event Comics in 1995. Originally a five-issue mini-series, the character went on to star in numerous crossover titles with the likes of the Punisher, Vampirella, and Hellboy.

<i>The Satanic Rites of Dracula</i> 1973 British film

The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a 1973 British horror film directed by Alan Gibson and produced by Hammer Film Productions. It is the eighth film in Hammer's Dracula series, and the seventh and final one to feature Christopher Lee as Dracula. The film was also the third to unite Peter Cushing as Van Helsing with Lee, following Dracula (1958) and Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Palmiotti</span> American writer

James Palmiotti is an American writer and inker of comic books, who also does writing for games, television and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Conner</span> American comics artist and commercial art illustrator

Amanda Conner is an American comics artist and commercial art illustrator. She began her career in the late 1980s for Archie Comics and Marvel Comics, before moving on to contribute work for Claypool Comics' Soulsearchers and Company and Harris Comics' Vampirella in the 1990s. Her 2000s work includes Mad magazine, and such DC Comics characters as Harley Quinn, Power Girl, and Atlee.

<i>Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering</i> 1996 film by Greg Spence

Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering is a 1996 American supernatural slasher film co-written and directed by Greg Spence and starring Naomi Watts, Brent Jennings, and Karen Black. It is the fourth film in the Children of the Corn series. The plot follows a medical student returning to her hometown in Nebraska, where she finds the children to be falling under a mysterious mass illness connected to the town's past.

<i>House of the Dead 2</i> (film) 2005 American film

House of the Dead 2 is a 2005 American action horror film and a sequel to the 2003 horror film House of the Dead. It is based on the video game series of the same name and the 1996 video game. The film was directed by Michael Hurst. It premiered at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain on October 14, 2005, and premiered in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel on February 11, 2006.

"Place of Angels" is the 27th episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions. Written and directed by Leo Eaton, it was first broadcast on 8 March 1968 on ATV Midlands.

Pandora's Clock is a 1996 NBC miniseries based on a novel by John J. Nance about a deadly virus on a Boeing 747-200 from Frankfurt to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Directed by Eric Laneuville, the film stars Richard Dean Anderson, Stephen Root, Jane Leeves, Robert Loggia and Daphne Zuniga and the script closely follows the book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susanna White</span> British television and film director

Susanna White is a British television and film director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dovey Johnson Roundtree</span> American lawyer

Dovey Mae Johnson Roundtree was an African-American civil rights activist, ordained minister, and attorney. Her 1955 victory before the Interstate Commerce Commission in the first bus desegregation case to be brought before the ICC resulted in the only explicit repudiation of the "separate but equal" doctrine in the field of interstate bus transportation by a court or federal administrative body. That case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, which Dovey Roundtree brought before the ICC with her law partner and mentor Julius Winfield Robertson, was invoked by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy during the 1961 Freedom Riders' campaign in his successful battle to compel the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce its rulings and end Jim Crow laws in public transportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meghann Fahy</span> American actress (born c.1990)

Meghann Fahy is an American actress. Her first prominent role was playing Hannah O'Connor on the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live from 2010 to 2012. On Broadway, she starred as Natalie Goodman in the stage musical Next to Normal from 2010 to 2011. She starred as Sutton Brady on the Freeform drama series The Bold Type, which ran from 2017 to 2021. In 2022, Fahy played Daphne on the second season of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus, for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robyn Kershaw</span>

Robyn Kershaw is an Australian independent film and television producer, best known for her work on feature drama, Looking for Alibrandi (2000), musical-comedy, Bran Nue Dae (2009), the hit TV series Kath & Kim and working with the YouTube sensation Mychonny on Sucker (2015), Mychonny Moves In (2015) and The China Boy Show (2017).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libby Johnson</span> American singer and composer

Libby Johnson is an American singer-songwriter. She co-founded the indie folk band 22 Brides in 1992, and released her debut solo album, Annabella, in 2006.

<i>Miss Sloane</i> 2016 film by John Madden

Miss Sloane is a 2016 political thriller film directed by John Madden and written by Jonathan Perera. The film stars Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alison Pill, Jake Lacy, John Lithgow, and Sam Waterston. The film follows Elizabeth Sloane, a fierce lobbyist, who fights in an attempt to pass gun control legislation.

<i>Dark Phoenix</i> (film) 2019 film by Simon Kinberg

Dark Phoenix is a 2019 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics X-Men characters. It is a sequel to 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, the twelfth installment overall in the X-Men film series, and the fourth and final installment of the prequel films. It marks the first X-Men film without the involvement of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and the last to be produced by Bad Hat Harry Productions, though the company was uncredited due to sexual assault allegations made against Bryan Singer in 2019. It was produced, written, and directed by Simon Kinberg and stars an ensemble cast featuring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, and Jessica Chastain.

Claudia Lössl is a German actress best known for her work in Boo, Zino & the Snurks and for dubbing the voices of actresses such as Penélope Cruz, Naomi Watts and Renée Zellweger in German releases of English-language films.

<i>Moving On</i> (2022 film) 2022 film by Paul Weitz

Moving On is a 2022 American comedy film written and directed by Paul Weitz. The film stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Malcolm McDowell, Sarah Burns, and Richard Roundtree.

References

  1. ↑ ""Painkiller Jane" Film Progressing Nicely, According To Co-Creator Jimmy Palmiotti". Moviepilot. 10 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  2. ↑ Lodderhose, Diana (10 November 2016). "Jessica Chastain Boards 'Painkiller Jane' For Lotus Entertainment & Solipsist Films". Deadline.
  3. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. "Lotus Taps Christine Boylan To Adapt 'Painkiller Jane' For Jessica Chastain". Deadline. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.