Superman: Man of Steel


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Interesting that they mentioned Flash, but weren't clear on the context. Was it one of the rumours they heard, or are they just guessing there is a Flash movie because there is a JLA movie. What of WW then? I could almost see a scenario where if they have a Superman, Batman and Green Lantern movie, it will be enough for a JLA movie and they will let the JLA movie launch the other character franchises. Possibly.

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Interesting that they mentioned Flash, but weren't clear on the context. Was it one of the rumours they heard, or are they just guessing there is a Flash movie because there is a JLA movie. What of WW then? I could almost see a scenario where if they have a Superman, Batman and Green Lantern movie, it will be enough for a JLA movie and they will let the JLA movie launch the other character franchises. Possibly.

The Flash thing came out the other day

http://iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8500:iesb-exclusive-the-director-of-the-flash-is&catid=41:news&Itemid=71

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  • 2 weeks later...

Interview with Nolan

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/03/christopher-nolan-takes-flight-with-superman-we-have-a-fantastic-story-1.html

Christopher Nolan takes flight with Superman: 'We have a fantastic story'

March 10, 2010 | 5:02 am

EXCLUSIVE

Christopher Nolan in the dark

This is a longer version of my story that will run today on the cover of the Los Angeles Times Calendar section...

The topic at the Batcave on Monday night was the future of that other superhero — you, know, the one from Metropolis. “It’s very exciting, we have a fantastic story,” Christopher Nolan said while sipping tea in the sleek editing suite that fills the converted garage adjacent to his Hollywood home. “And we feel we can do it right. We know the milieu, if you will, we know the genre and how to get it done right.”

Nolan was standing next to his wife, producer Emma Thomas, his partner in all of his films — including “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” the grim franchise that pulled in more than $1.3 billion at theaters worldwide — and he was explaining their plan to take on a challenge that has frustrated Hollywood for two decades: Getting another Superman film franchise off the ground.

Nolan, speaking about the Superman project for the first time, is pleased with the excitement stirred but, like the magicians in his 2006 film “The Prestige,” sees no value in revealing all of his tricks before the curtain goes up. Still, he wanted to answer some of the early questions about his plans for Superman — as well as his third visit to Gotham City.

There was a spasm of fan excitement when word leaked last month that Nolan, who is now viewed as the Hitchcock of superhero cinema after his two Batman films, would be the “godfather” for a reboot of the Man of Steel, acting as producer and mentor to an as-yet-unnamed-director who will be making a movie based on a story by Nolan and frequent collaborator David S. Goyer.

The Internet flurry that included reports that, according to Thomas, might be better described as fan fiction. The dispatches revealing that the film will be called “Man of Steel” ? and feature Lex Luthor and Brainiac? Or the one about it being a period piece with something like a low-fi version of the hero?

Superman by Jim Lee “I don’t know where this stuff comes from,” Thomas said with a chuckle, although, as with any good poker player, it’s hard to say where the bluff starts and ends.

This much is certain: The couple are completely focused on the movie-of-the-moment, which is “Inception,” which opens July 19 and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a dream thief of sorts in what may be Hollywood’s first metaphysical heist film. The movie is the most complicated undertaking of Nolan’s career — it was shot in six countries and tells a tale that flips between reality and three levels of dream-time — and, well, all things considered, he’d rather Superman stay in his Fortress of Solitude and off the front page for a while longer since that project is a matter for 2012 or 2013 at best.

But, of course, Superman, first superhero of them all, is an American pop culture icon on par with Mickey Mouse and Elvis. But after the close of the Christopher Reeve era with “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” in 1987, the property became one of the most frustrating in Hollywood. A dozen different reboots were started through the years with names attached such as Nicolas Cage, Kevin Smith, J.J. Abrams, McG and Brett Ratner and plans were trotted out to kill Superman, strip him of his powers or pit him in battle against Batman.

Finally, director Bryan Singer, who had earned credibility with comic book fans with his two “X-Men” films for Fox, delivered with “Superman Returns” in 2006 starring Brandon Routh. But the finished product was viewed as oddly lifeless by many critics. The $200-million film finished its theatrical run with a respectable $391 million worldwide but it wasn’t heroic enough to earn a sequel.

Nolan said that he admired Singer’s film, especially the way it connected in to director Richard Donner’s version of Superman and the first two movies starring Reeve. Nolan added, though, that this new movie will stand on its own.

Batman atop police car “A lot of people have approached Superman in a lot of different ways. I only know the way that has worked for us that’s what I know how to do,” Nolan said, emphasizing the idea that Batman exists in a world where he is the only superhero and a similar approach to the Man of Steel would assure the integrity needed for the film. “Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other.”

Still, it was a frustrating moment in the Batman franchise that led to this new Superman revival. Nolan and Goyer, a key collaborator on both Batman films, were at a story impasse on the third Batman film (which is now picking up steam as well) when, as a distraction, Goyer gave the filmmaker a daydream version of how he would tackle a story about the last son of Krypton.

“He basically told me, ‘I have this thought about how you would approach Superman,’” Nolan recalled. “I immediately got it, loved it and thought: That is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way.”

Goyer is now writing the screenplay and Nolan is keeping it close to the vest.

It’s interesting where inspirations originate. Nolan put together an especially deep cast for his Batman films — the first one, for instance, featured Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles. That, he said, was an idea imported from Metropolis.

“I went to the studio with the analogy of ‘I want to cast the way they did in 1978 with “Superman,”’ where they had Brando and Glenn Ford and Ned Beatty and all these fantastic actors in even small parts, which was an exotic idea for a superhero movie at the time. It really paid off, too., As a kid watching ‘Superman’ it seemed enormous and I realized later by looking at it that a lot of that was actually the casting, just having these incredibly talented people and these characterizations. And Marlon Brando is the first guy up playing Superman’s dad. It’s incredible.”

Christopher Nolan and Aaron Eckhart on set of Drak Knight photo by Stephen Vaughan

Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, was an instant success when he arrived on the publishing scene in June 1938 and he more or less created the American comic book and its signature concept, the superhero. Superman made the leap to radio in 1940 and then to the silver screen in 1948 when Kirk Alyn became the first of many actors to wear the cape. George Reeve was the face of Superman on television for 104 episodes in the 1950s Reeve may be the definitive version of the hero for most people today, but young fans have a view of the hero shaped more by the award-winning animated series in recent years and “Smalllvile,” the CW series that just got re-upped for a tenth season, making star Tom Welling the Clark Kent with the longest tenure.

Nolan, for the record, also won’t confirm that he is actually directing the third Batman film but, well, or course he is, but “Inception” isn’t in the can yet and it’s against his code. He can’t be easily tricked, either. Asked if Superman as a franchise has to overcome a deficiency of truly great villains, unlike, say, Spider-Man and Batman, he won’t bite. “That’s a very sly way of asking a question I’m not going to answer.”

Christopher Reeve Nolan says he has no idea who will direct the Superman film (there has been conjecture that it may be his brother and frequent collaborator, Jonathan Nolan) but his role appears to be comparable Peter Jackson with “District 9,” which was directed by newcomer Neill Blomkamp but benefited greatly from imprimatur of the “The Lord of the Rings” auteur. Jackson is also stepping into a similar role in Middle-earth as Guillermo del Toro takes over as director for “The Hobbit” films.

Nolan established himself as a bold and cerebral filmmaker in 2000 with “Memento,” has made a specialty of rooting stories of the fantastic in a gritty reality with psychological undertones and emphasis on using practical effects and stunt work as opposed to the magical painting brushes of CG era. All of that made him an ideal filmmaker for fight-time in the brutal gutters of Gotham but it doesn’t make the filmmaker the first obvious choice for flight-time amid the gleaming citadels of Metropolis. Warner Bros executives seem confident that he is -- and they need him to be the right man with the "Harry Potter" franchise -- and perhaps Batman -- nearing an expiration date.

Sitting in his edit bay, which is decorated with posters of Ledger as the Joker and has a skylight that rolls shut with mechanical screeching that adds to the Batcave ambiance, Nolan said he knows about storytelling and it’s difficult to dissect his work beyond that.

Superman by Alex Ross “We’re approaching it in a not dissimilar way in terms of trying to find an incredible story in a way that audiences can engage with it the way they engage with contemporary action films,” Nolan continued. “I think David’s approach is a very good way of doing just that.”

And that third Batman film? Jonathan Nolan is “now doing the hard work” of writing the script based on the story by his sibling Goyer. “My brother is writing a script for me and we’ll wait to see how it turns out...he’s struggling to put it together into the epic story that you want it to be.”

“Batman Begins” was the origin and back story of the hero, while “The Dark Knight” found the hero reeling as his Manichean, good vs. evil world view was upended by a new villain, the Joker, who was a wild-card agent of chaos going up against order, be it a police department or the mob. The second film ends, literally, with Batman on the run, a fugitive.

So what happens next?

“Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third film an great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story,” he said. “And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story.”

Nolan said the key characters from the two first films and the actors who that play them will be back. “We have a great ensemble, that’s one of the attractions of doing another film, since we’ve been having a great time for years.”

Christopher Nolan Perhaps. But the great challenge is to find a villain (or villains) who that can not only match up with the Caped Crusader but also with Heath Ledger’s Academy Award-winning portrayal of the scabby, demented Joker. Fans have churned up the rumor mill for months now (Johnny Depp as the Riddler? Angelina Jolie as Catwoman? Philip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin? Ben Kingsley as Hugo Strange?). But Nolan, no fan of letting cats out of the bag, declined to play along.

His villain choices to date have steered cleared of strongly supernatural or super-science characters (no Man-Bat, Mr. Freeze or Poison Ivy, for instance) but he shook his head when asked if that was trajectory he would continue. He did however concede one tidbit: “It won’t be," he said, "Mr. Freeze.”

Batman has been throwing punches in the pages of DC Comics since 1939 and as the decades passed, much of the core of the character stayed the same even as Bruce Wayne’s sideburns or the profile of the Batmobile changed. Not so with film.

“I’m very excited about the end of the film, the conclusion, and what we’ve done with the characters,” Nolan said.“My brother has come up with some pretty exciting stuff. Unlike the comics, these thing don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling. And it hearkens back to that priority of trying to find the reality in these fantastic stories. That’s what we do.”

-- Geoff Boucher

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  • 6 months later...

http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/chris-nolan-looking-for-superman-director/

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Brothers film execs are telling Deadline there will be major announcements involving DC characters coming in 4 weeks. But I can tell you now that Superman producers Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas are getting closer to resuscitating the Man of Steel. I'm told they have begun meeting with a short list of directors for the job of directing Superman, the picture which will be financed by Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures. On the list: Unstoppable's Tony Scott, Let Me In director Matt Reeves, Battle: Los Angeles helmer Jonathan Liebesman (who just got the Warner Bros/Legendary job of directing Clash of the Titans 2), Duncan Jones, who just directed Source Code, and Sucker Punch helmer Zack Snyder. As Deadline first revealed back in February (Chris Nolan Will Mentor Superman 3.0), Nolan came up with an idea that put the Batman director in a godfather position on Superman, which besides from the Batfranchise is the linchpin of DC Comics franchise characters. David Goyer wrote a script. Several of these directors have movie commitments like Liebesman, which make then unlikely. Nolan has already started meeting with candidates and will submit his choice to the studio within the next few weeks. Warner Bros and Legendary have to get the picture made by 2012, because the studio stands to lose certain rights to the iconic character in 2013 after a judge ruled favorably on behalf of the heirs of Superman creator Jerry Siegel. As I've reported previously, the studio at one point wanted Guillermo del Toro to resurrect Superman... Will tell you more when I hear it.
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Here's the interesting thing about Snyder: we've only seen his work in Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen, and Legends of the Guardians, all of which were either remakes or adaptations.

And, if Watchmen is any indication, he's completely willing to be faithful (mostly) to a story. So if he directed a Superman film that was well-written, under the guidance of Nolan, it could actually be good. Not saying it'd be the best, but it'd be good.

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Not only that but Snyder knows how to make a stylistic movie. I believe that if given Superman, the film would be gorgeous. All of his films, the cinematography has this feeling to it that makes the world, in all of its absurdities, seem real. Watchmen was largely faithful to the graphic novel and at least got it's look down. I can already imagine a Brainiac under the watch of Snyder, metal and flesh in perfect sync.

Yes, I am a tad bit fan boying out. It happens.

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...which sounds good to me as he's the director I want to see a Superman film from.

See now, he makes a lot of sense for a Morrison-style Superman film, but I'm not sure that the mainstream would be down for that. A straightforward and relatable Superman would probably work a little better. Let's save the All-Star treatment for the next reboot.

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...which sounds good to me as he's the director I want to see a Superman film from.

See now, he makes a lot of sense for a Morrison-style Superman film, but I'm not sure that the mainstream would be down for that. A straightforward and relatable Superman would probably work a little better. Let's save the All-Star treatment for the next reboot.

The next reboot? That's a pretty telling statement about how disposable CBMs are if we're waiting for a reboot after a reboot.

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I sense the comment was somewhat tongue in cheek but really, it's still accurate. I think the average comic book franchise can expect a reboot every 15-20 years these days, I don't doubt that I'll see at least four Spider-man movie franchises in my lifetime, possibly as many as six. On the DC side I think it'll be a little less, probably two more for Superman at best. Batman's gonna be more obviously. They'll be replacing continuity like they replace Bond film actors.

They'll still be stringing out the tattered original X-men continuity though, murdering it totally. I wouldn't be surprised to see Jackman at 60 doing Old Man Logan.

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^All of that. Exactly.^

No superhero film franchise can continue on with the same characters for any number of years. Actors age, storylines get weaker, etc. Every generation or so (usually sooner), it's good to re-examine the franchise and determine what needs to be updated or changed.

Good idea. Lord knows Hollywood doesn't cater to the mainstream nearly as much as it should.

A Superman film needs to cater to the mainstream at this point. His overall popularity is relatively weak with younger audiences, and screwing around with a version of the story that's "different" isn't necessarily what's best. Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, and Batman Begins were all mainstream films. There's no reason not to make a movie that appeals to everyone. Once Superman is popular again, then you can talk about the stranger stories.

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I agree with KW here. Your first story needs to be some mix of Origin and mainstream appeal. Then, with that out of the way, you look at X2 or The Dark Knight and use the fact that your characters are established to make the real cutting edge film that allows you to explore the themes and characters in more depth. Then with the thrid film, it's a good idea to continue that idea and, if you know you're working a trilogy, bring it to a good stopping point. Otherwise, you risk becoming Batman Forever or Spiderman 3 and nobody wants that.

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I think a Superman trilogy is a great idea. Have the first one be the origin, the second one be the X2-style "okay, now we have our character(s), what do we do with him/them?" film, then have the last one be an epic-to-end-all-epics.

Maybe they can pull a DCAU move and start a Darkseid/Apokolips plot thread in the Superman movies, then bring it over to a Justice League movie. (if they're gonna do that kind of huge crossover)

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Naw, Superman can take Darkseid. They could do a Apocalypse, Now!-style cliffhanger for the second movie, with Darkseid coming in for a brief time, or being one of focal points of the movie, and then at the end is driven back but decides to kill a main character.

(Hey, as a joke he could blast Christian Bale's Batman with the omega sanction, this of course is a prelude to a Quantum Leap-style TV series.)

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No superhero film franchise can continue on with the same characters for any number of years. Actors age, storylines get weaker, etc. Every generation or so (usually sooner), it's good to re-examine the franchise and determine what needs to be updated or changed.

Like not telling the Spider-Man origin again or not having Luthor use another fucking real estate scheme?

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