Sam Mendes to direct graphic novel 'Preacher'

Sam Mendes, director of tentatively amazing Revolutionary Road and husband to mega-star Kate Winslet, has just signed on to direct an adaptation of the graphic novel Preacher.  It's described as a Quentin Tarantino-like work by bookseller Amazon, so the choice of Mendes does not easily explain itself.  Mendes directed American Beauty, after all, and Revolutionary Road also takes on the suburban drama.  His release slate includes another family comedy-drama, This Must Be the Place, and IMDB shows an adaptation of historical romance-drama Middlemarch in the pipeline.

Mendes' films Road to Perdition and Jarhead, however, took on the subjects of crime and war, a closer fit to the subject matter of Preacher, described this way:

"The story follows an ex-preacher man, Jesse, who has become disgusted with God's abandoning of His responsibilities. So Jesse starts off into the wilds of Texas with his hitman girlfriend and new best friend (a vampire) to find God so that he can give Him a piece of his mind. Despite its superficial perversity, this book contains what may be the most moral character in mainstream comics."

The dark and supernatural elements of this plot ine do not portend an easy adaptation, mainly because I don't know how closely the world of Preacher will compare to the real world.  I am curious to see Mendes' take on the comic.  Any chance that Kate Winslet will play the "hitman girlfriend"?