Comic-Con Interview: 'Battlestar Galactica' Co-Exec. Producer Mark Verheiden on 'Battlestar', the 'Teen Titans' Movie and Bruce Campbell

During Comic-Con, when I wasn't running from place to place or freezing my butt off in Hall H, I also managed to sit in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel next to the San Diego Convention Center and have a pretty lengthy conversation with Battlestar Galactica Co-Executive Producer Mark Verheiden. During our 45 minutes or so together, we talked about a lot of things not movie-related. However, we also managed to get around to discussing quite a bit of Battlestar Galactica related stuff - including a Battlestar movie -- as well as his other projects: an adaptation of the DC Comic Teen Titans for the big screen and his recent collaboration with actor/director Bruce Cambell.

Verheiden has been writing comic books, television shows and movies for almost twenty years. But when he first moved to Los Angeles from his native Portland, he didn't know anyone in the business or have any idea how he might "break in" and start writing for a living. His first paying screenplay , which he remembers fondly, was for a low-budget action film called Terror Squad starring Chuck Connors, who is best know for his role as The Rifleman on TV.

"A couple friends moved down with me and got jobs in town," said Verheiden. "One worked in sound and I begged him to let me come in and pitch the producer some movie ideas and he ended up making one. Then, he bought another and that was pretty much it. Later, I could point to those films when Hollywood people ask me if I've had anything produced and say "yes."

Around the same time he was writing those low-budget action movies he also was asked by his friends who had formed the comic book publishing company Darkhorse to do a comic book for them. So, he created a character called The American for Darkhorse which did pretty well. This led to other writing gigs for the company including many of the Alien comics based on the films as well as the story of The Mask feature film starring Jim Carrey.

From that point his career took off and he ended up writing several other things including the Timecop movie and TV series, the Smallvile TV series and now Battlestar Galactica -- which is currently in production on its fourth, and apparently final, season. Of course, I asked Verheiden about Battlestar and if we're going to see a movie version of the series any time soon. "Not that I know of. At least not yet," said Verheiden. "Although, as a fan I would love to see it happen, but I don't know how it would work exactly."

Some have speculated on the net and other places that its original Battlestar series creator Glen Larson who is somehow holding up any plans for a Battlestar movie. "I've heard that," said Verheiden. "But I don't know for sure if that's the wrench that's holding things up of even if there is any interest in doing a feature at all. Really, at the moment, we're just focused on making sure we wrap up the show in the most satisfying way possible for the fans. What happens then? Well, we'll see."

Turning to his other current projects, he's also writing a big screen adaptation of DC's comic book Teen Titans for producer Akiva Goldsman and Warner Brothers. Given that, what could he tell us about it? "Well, I'm still writing it so not really anything much at the moment, mostly because I don't know for sure yet." Even if he couldn't say much, he was able to drop a bit of information on us. "One thing I can tell you is that there will be a Nightwing story and Robin is in it too," said Verheiden.

He continued: "We'll be dealing with a transitional period in the lives of the Teen Titans. It will be a huge, fun action movie but it's the characters first. What makes them interesting and exciting? That's how I approach any story." He also put to rest rumors that the characters would somehow be older in the movie than they are in the comic. "It won't be the Titans as young adults or anything. It will definitely be the Teen Titans," said Verheiden.

Next, we discussed another of his recent projects -- a movie he wrote for actor/director/icon Bruce Campbell called My Name is Bruce. The movie, according to Verheiden, "is about the real Bruce Campbell who is mistaken for his character Ash from the Evil Dead movies and forced to fight a real monster in a small town in Oregon." Sounds interesting. But really, nothing against Verheiden, but if the movie has Bruce Campbell in it, I'm there. Why do you think I'm still watching Burn Notice on the USA Network?

Finally, I wanted to know what kind of Sci-Fi fan Verheiden really is. Sure, he writes for Battlestar Galactica, one of the greatest TV shows ever that just happens to be a Sci-Fi show. He's also written a few other Sci-Fi features like Time Cop and many episodes of TVs Smallville. That said, what kind of Sci-Fi fan is he deep down? I wanted to know so I asked him one of the ultimate Sci-Fi cred questions: Star Trek or Star Wars?

"Star Trek for sure," answered Verheiden, "with the original cast. That was my show and I always felt like the characters on the show really had a genuine affection for each other. Not like the characters in later series, which seemed sort of cold and distant. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Checkov, those are my guys."