Sam Mendes promises his forthcoming movie will be "extremely blasphemous and profane".

The director is in the early stages of working on 'Preacher' — which follows a priest inhabited by a heavenly being who seeks an explanation from God and is based on a comic book series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon — and admits people may be offended by the film, but says it is cleverly done.

He said: "I've seen a script and it's very good. I love graphic novels — 'Road To Perdition' was based on a graphic novel — so I'm used to that form and 'Preacher 'is absolutely brilliant. I certainly feel it's a movie.

"It's funny, it's violent as hell, it's extremely blasphemous and profane, but it has an amazingly skilful tone. I met Garth Ennis and I'm just a huge fan of it."

Before working on 'Preacher', Sam is set to work on an adaptation of Joseph O'Neill's novel 'Netherland' but admits penning a script has been a struggle for writer Christopher Hampton.

He added to Empire Online: "It's a brilliant novel but not an obvious film, so it needs a fair amount of work. I'm definitely committed to trying to make one out of it, though, and if anyone can do it, Christopher Hampton can. He's the most wonderful writer.