I had been obsessed with this movie since 2002 when it was supposed to star Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, but Brad pulled out to do Troy. Ironically, a year later I found a script dealer in Manhattan who had two very special scripts for sale, Troy and the Fountain. When I read the script, I felt relieved to discover that my obsession was justified.

When it was decided that he would release the story as a graphic novel in lieu of the movie I was disappointed, but loved that story so much that, in many ways, it made up for never seeing the film. The art in the graphic novel is beautiful and, with the exception of some minor changes, it follows the same trajectory as the film. The art, in some ways, aligned with the story in a way that a film never could. You have to read it to understand what I'm saying. By the time the film came out my obsession with The Fountain had come and gone, but I watched and loved it.

Getting to my main point: one thing that struck me, which really didn't in the graphic novel (again, I find this ironic given the close relationship to graphic novels and comic books), is that, taken more literally, The Fountain could be seen as the most moving, and epic Super Villain Origin Story of all time.

One of the key aspects of the film seems to be Tom Verde's single-minded obsession with saving his wife and with finding a 'cure' for death. While this may seem like a sort of nobly tragic goal, he kind of destroys his life, his career and the woman he loves by simply not dropping everything and spending those last days with her. That scene where he marks himself was, to me, incredibly disturbing. One can only imagine all the things he must have done, the violations of ethics he must have committed and the people he hurt, and likely killed, in order to get on that spacecraft and get himself to Xibalba. While I think his love and loss are tragic and beautiful, I think his own obsession and cruelty are disturbing and I think his mission to the star only hints at hundreds of years of doing absolutely anything, letting no one or thing get in his way, to find a 'cure' for death.