Superman: Man of Steel

[Dan]

A true professional.

[JackFetch]

ComingSoon.net has posted an exclusive interview with Brandon Routh in which he talks about the Superman Returns sequel, Superman: Man of Steel, whether he would do a Batman vs. Superman movie, his thoughts on the Justice League movie and starring as Dylan Dog in Dead of Night. Here's a clip on "Man of Steel":

Well, I think that something that audiences are looking for – and I certainly am, too – is for Superman to actually be able to lay a punch on someone or something. I was filming and I thought, "I haven't really hit anything. I feel like I'm going to need to let some of this anger out." So I'm happy that I think that's going to be a central part of the sequel, getting a good villain that we can actually have physical altercations with. Certainly also, I'd like more humor from Clark or just more of Clark and Jimmy. A little bit more of Lois and Clark, how we used to see them, a bit more of buddies. Perhaps things will be smoothed over with Superman and Lois and she can afford to be a little bit nicer to Clark. I think that's something that people want to see and those are some of the great moments from previous "Superman" films. Also, Superman and Lois getting together, that's always my end goal. I want that to happen. The romantic in me wants that to happen eventually whether they're finally together in this movie or in whatever future films there might be. I kind of want to see that happen.

http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=7139

Is it me or is he starting to think he is Superman with this "I'm going to need to let some of this anger out"?

[slothian]

I think Routh's ever-so-subtlely stating what he thought was wrong with the last film, in a diplomatic, non-sackable, forward-looking kind of way. I've actually bought Returns on DVD (only £3, so I can just about sleep at night) to remind myself of how good he & Spacey were.....even if I haven't got round to watching it yet.

[Luke]

actually bought Returns on DVD (only £3, so I can just about sleep at night)

Ha, me too. From Woolworths, right?

[slothian]

actually bought Returns on DVD (only £3, so I can just about sleep at night)

Ha, me too. From Woolworths, right?

HMV, actually. Were I still a student, I could've used student discount and got it down to about £2.70!

[James D.]

Holy shit, you guys still have Woolworth's??? That is AWESOME.

[Missy]

Yeah, I haven't seen a Woolworth's in over a decade!

But, to be fair, my understanding is that the UK Woolworth's is not the same as the five-and-dime we're used to in the States.

[Dread]

Yeah, I haven't seen a Woolworth's in over a decade!

But, to be fair, my understanding is that the UK Woolworth's is not the same as the five-and-dime we're used to in the States.

Just like the Safeway's in Canada have nothing to do with those in the US.

I see no need to get all worked up about the new Superman movie. I have a policy that is as follows: if I don't see Superman punching a robot/alien/monster at least forty times his size in the trailer, I simply won't watch it until it's on network television.

[annericelover]

Superman may get a reboot...Just like Batman Begins and The Incredible Hulk rebooted the previous franchises last blunder. Warner Brothers may decide to just re-do the franchise and leave the Christopher Reeve/Brandon Routh franchise alone. If this happens it will be released in 2011. Does this mean this will be the Superman in the Justice League movie or is Brandon Routh still set to do it.

Here's the link:

http://www.superherohype.com/news/supermannews.php?id=7431

[annericelover]

This is an interview given to Mark Millar about the revamping of the Superman franchise:

for the full interview, discussing X-Men and more go here

http://www.denofgeek.com/comics/88459/the_...ark_millar.html

Can I ask how the Superman pitch is going?

It’s quite weird actually, because I’d sort of given up on it. It’s really odd; I’ve been a huge fan of Superman my entire life, and I felt like something just happened, a couple of years ago after I’d seen Superman Returns. Not to shit on the movie or anything, but I think it was just kind of …probably the way people felt after Star Wars: Episode 1, where…you know that feeling when you’re sitting in the cinema on opening night with your friends, and I’d actually bought tickets [to Superman Returns] for all my brothers and friends and so on, and I did the same with [Phantom Menace] as well.

You know when you hear that Star Wars music, and I…I’m so embarrassed to say this, but I actually leaned over and I said to my wife and my brother. “I think this is going to be the greatest movie of all time” [laughs]! And I actually felt my eyes watering up when I heard that Star Wars music.

And then, one hour in, with Jar Jar Binks and all that, I actually just felt like killing myself. That’s the first time I think I’ve ever felt that crushing disappointment, coming out of the cinema.

It wasn’t quite on that scale with Superman Returns, because obviously the movie wasn’t as bad, but still , Superman meant even more to me than Star Wars, so the idea of walking out of a Superman movie and not being elated…

I genuinely had waited since 1987, Superman 4; buying magazines, checking it out online when the internet came along, just praying for a Superman movie. And managing to snare a draft of the Tim Burton scripts, and probably versions people haven’t even bothered looking at. I’ve probably read them all. So I was really anticipating this Superman movie. In the end it just sort of came out and didn’t do all that well, and it sort of deflated me on Superman; it took me a couple of years to get back into it again. Obviously Superman has a huge place in my heart.

The ‘director’ phoned me about a month ago, and said ‘Look, I’ve got absolutely no authorisation from Warner Brothers, because Warners aren’t looking in particular, but I want to have all my soldiers lined up, just in case.” He said “I want to do a complete reboot of the Superman franchise”. He said “I know you’ve got a huge passion for it and the buzz on Wanted is great”. I think it was the week before Wanted opened. He said “I’d just like you to be a part of it. I think there’d be a really good fan reaction, because people have said they’d like to see what you’d do with it. And I’d just like you to be part of the team. Are you interested?”.

[laughs] It took me a nanosecond to say ‘yes’. I’ve had the plot for an amazing Superman trilogy figured out since I was about ten, so I told him that and he loved it. When we were in the states, we met up – he’s an American director, and he’s a big, big deal in terms of action movies and so on. But in terms of courtesy, you have to wait and see if Bryan [singer] is going to do any more. You can’t just go in there and nick a project off a guy. If Bryan ends up standing back and goes to move on and do something else, we’ll be in there like a shot.

One of the things I do love about Superman Returns is the reverence for the Donner version, with the music and so forth – but would you have to jettison that for your own project, just to give it a fresh start?

It’s funny you say that – [Donner’s] Superman is obviously the one I grew up with. We were talking about casting various people; obviously we’d be starting from scratch with a whole new cast; but one of the things this American guy [the ‘director’] said to me was that you’ve got to love Donner’s version and keep it in your heart, but we’ve got to do the new one. I said ‘What do you mean?’. He said “Imagine Donner had said ‘I grew up in the fifties and I love the George Reeves TV show – I’m gonna do it just like that’”. He said make it appropriate to the world around you now, and I thought ‘That’s a very good point’.

Chuck Allen was nothing like George Reeves and George Reeves was nothing like Christopher Reeve; the Clark Kent could not have been more different. The idea of moving it on one generation again so that it’s very identifiable to that period is a very interesting idea.

You’ve got to keep Superman as the cornerstone of it, but the world around him should be quite different.

Superman was very conflicted in Returns – almost apologist. What is the problem people have liking Superman as he is?

I actually think it’s a sign of a malformed personality, people who don’t like Superman [laughs]. In fact, nearly all of my friends say ‘Oh, I hate Superman’, and I ask why, and they say ‘Oh, cause he’s such a goody-goody’. So it’s like ‘Don’t you like nice people?’ [laughs], y’know, ‘What is wrong with you?’. And they say ‘Oh, I prefer Batman, he’s more sort of evil and bad-ass’. But who would you rather hang about with? Who’s a better role model with a more kind of positive outlook on the world? I think it’s the same kids that carve a swastika into the vestibule at school – that’s the kind of person who doesn’t like Superman [laughs].

I think the mainstream public, left and right, would go nuts for a Superman film right now, especially in this period where America ’s slightly at ease with itself…to do something that has America feeling good about itself again, and something that just has the hairs on the back of your neck standing up for the whole movie. Could be amazing…

Is there anything controversial in the vision of Superman that you’ve been nursing for about 30 years? Something that might surprise the fans…?

It’s funny, but sometimes you do that when you go onto a new project. I did The Authority a few years ago, and that was like my first big break over at Wildstorm, and I do remember thinking [laughing] wouldn’t it be funny if you had the guy who looks like Superman getting buggered by the guy who looks like Captain America?

Sometimes you do go into a project with that in mind. But I think Superman is a project that you shouldn’t court controversy in. But in saying that, without meaning it, and not in a crude way, I have got some ideas that are quite radical for it, and when I was talking to the director in L.A. he was very excited, saying ‘God, that’s a take on it we haven’t thought of before’. So I think it’ll probably naturally be controversial following the decision, if it happens…but in a good way. It’d be nothing like Chris Nolan’s Batman, because Batman and Superman are so distinct. To me, this is a film that you can take your five year-old to, and his eyes should be lighting up saying ‘This is the best film I’ve ever seen’…

I’ve had this insane thing, my whole life, like I’ve always felt—everybody’s here for a reason, and I’ve always felt that’s my reason. Everything else to me is training to do a Superman film. Everything else I’ve ever done, the good stuff, the bad, it’s all just training to revamp Superman. And then after that I should just fuck off and do something else [laughs]. That’s my only real ambition.

I hope it happens. That’s a film I really want to see.

Thanks very much. It’d be terrible if it turned out to be shit now, wouldn’t it [laughs]? But in our minds, it’s great, and honestly the director is so so good at this kind of thing, and I think it could just work out pretty brilliant, actually. I’ve got a good feeling about it.

[GoFlash]

I will admit that Supes was a total stalker in that film but I figure thats actually in character, what with all the super spying powers.

That just reminds me of a quote from an essay by Larry Niven about Superman's mating problems. "One must not think of Superman as a peeping Tom. Biological abilities must be used. If billions of people shamelessly walk around wearing clothes without lead in them, that is hardly his fault."

[JackFetch]

WB is taking back control of the character and talking about dumping Singer:

They too believe that the last movie didn't break the mold and wound up in some kind of middle limbo. Today I was told that it is a priority at the studio to find the right direction and if Bryan Singer is willing to do that, fine, but if he gets in the way, he may not stay on the project. There are no writers working on a Superman script now. The studio wants to figure it out. "It might be better to start from scratch," one exec admitted.

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononholly...man-status.html

[NightAngle04]

Just start from scratch. Revamp the whole thing. Other than Yoda no one wants to see Singer back on another Superman. And find a new Lois.

[James D.]

Just start from scratch. Revamp the whole thing. Other than Yoda no one wants to see Singer back on another Superman. And find a new Lois.

Oh, no you di'int!

[Dan]

Oh, it is ON now.

[annericelover]

Ding Ding Round 1 :laugh:

[Missy]

Other than Yoda no one wants to see Singer back on another Superman.

[NightAngle04]

Thats right I said it.

[Koete]

Fantastic!

[JackFetch]

I'm with NightAngle on this one. Singer had his shot and fucked it up. Time to bring in someone else.

[annericelover]

Hey anything is better than the EMO-Stalker-ish Superman, right Yoda? Even Bruce Willis, lol j/k(on the last joke)

[annericelover]

Here's a suggested title for the sequel

http://www.superherohype.com/news/supermannews.php?id=8107

[Stavros]

I'm all for continuing the Superman Returns mythology. It pays enough homage to the past but it has the potential for the future. Brandon Routh in particular should remain Superman, he was amazing.

I know a lot of people disliked Returns but I don't think the series is unsalvagable as it stands. A villain who is a physical threat to Superman would go a long way to drawing in the punters for a new installment.

[Guest DCAUFan1051]

I'm all for continuing the Superman Returns mythology. It pays enough homage to the past but it has the potential for the future. Brandon Routh in particular should remain Superman, he was amazing.

I know a lot of people disliked Returns but I don't think the series is unsalvagable as it stands. A villain who is a physical threat to Superman would go a long way to drawing in the punters for a new installment.

I agree to a point Routh should stay but whomever writes the S: MOS script should write the characters of Clark/Superman to NOT be stalkerish!!!

And Spacey should remain as Luthor but make him more of a viable threat.

[annericelover]

BUMP!!!

Routh's contract to appear in another Superman film has expired, he may not be in anymore films, but he said he would come back in a second if asked. Read here for more

http://www.superherohype.com/news/supermannews.php?id=8479