And, thankfully, even the emotional trauma was minimal.

Oh, yes, Im basically a shadow of my former self right now.

Im going to just swear incoherently at you for fifteen minutes and call it a day.

So, now the dust has settled, how was theREDexperience?

Yeah, quite deliberately.

It was my choice.

They bought the right to adapt it.

It must have been quite a surprise, then.

Because it did well.

Yeah, I dont know if I was surprised so much as I was relieved.

We cleared 90 million in the US, and about the same again internationally.

So, for an inexpensive little film, it really did very well.

And in a year whereThe LosersandScott Pilgrimunderperformed.

Well, the less said about that, the better for all involved!

[laughs] Did you ever read the original script for that?

It was by the guys who didCrank, Neveldine and Taylor.

The script was fucking brilliant.

And they just did horrendous, horrendous things to that film.

They just gutted the script, presumably to get it as a 15 or a 12 or whatever.

Such a shame, because it should have actually been a really good film.

And the sequel has already been commissioned, we hear.

They dont talk to me about that.

I mean, I knew it was happening.

So, are you excited to see where they take it?

Have you felt any change in your career after all this?

[Laughs] None at all!

In fact, the other Warren Ellis gave Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer a message to give to me.

Theyre in Australia right now, and they saw him the other night.

And apparently people congratulate him on his comics work.

I guess were actually going to be sitting down and drinking some time this year.

Surely, that would bring about the end of existence as we know it?

People have said this, yes!

But youve not experienced a shot in the arm with theBlack Summeradaptation?

Well, this all happened beforeRED.

I mean, most people dont knowMen In Blackwas a comic first.

OrThe Mask, or evenRoad To Perdition.

Is screenwriting something you want to have more of a go at?

I know youve written screenplays for animated features and series, but what about live-action films?

Ive written screenplays before, and Legendary have engaged me to write the adaptation ofGravel.

Do you still find yourself drawn back to writing comics, despite all your other work?

Well, comics is still my first love.

But I always did other kinds of writing too, so I think of myself as a writer first.

I suppose it is a skill that is transferable between media.

Youve worked in many other forms, but Id class your online presence as almost a work in itself.

With your persona, but also your use of Twitter and your blog and your discussion forums like Whitechapel.

Youve created this platform where you look beyond your immediate work and audience, and bring people together.

Not many writers do that.

Reading that as a kid, I kind of got the impression that that was part of the job.

I got the sense that that was what you did.

So, once my profile got to that point, thats what I did.

And it didnt dawn on me till later that not everybody does that.

Is it weird to see that develop?

And Matt Fraction, and Kelly Sue DeConnick.

You officiated over that wedding, in a way.

Its what happens when you set up a fairly inclusive online community.

Online communities, in that sense, are going away.

The message board is going away, but its been an interesting aspect of it.

One of the organisations that Ive discovered through your blog is BERG, the design consultancy firm.

And youre collaborating with them on a comic calledSVK.

I was wondering if there was anything else you could tell us about that.

It is the worst possible time to be doing two or three hours of phoners.

And BERG will be publishing it.

Yeah, Ive known them for years.

I knew them when they were still Schulze and Webb.

In fact, it was me who named the company BERG.

That was my fault!

[laughs]

At lot of things seem to have been your fault, actually.

The character of Spider Jerusalem was ahead of the curve with the idea of the political blogger-journalist.

So its been turning out, yes.

So people have been telling me.

[Laughs] When you meet Laurie, you realise she is Yelena Rossini fromTransmet.

She is Yelena and she was aTransmetfan as a kid.

And I think Ive probably ruined her life in any number of ways.

Its been fun introducing Laurie to people.

And I realised, its a small world.

Thats how small my world is, anyway.

Mr Ellis, thank you for your time!

RED is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.