Superman Director Says New Movie Won't Be a Retread of the Past

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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Superman Director Says New Movie Won't Be a Retread of the Past

Director Zack Snyder says that he will respect the Superman canon, but that he's making his own movie out of it, not remaking someone else's.

There have been five Superman movies over the years, four starring Christopher Reeve, and one starring Brandon Routh. But Snyder, the director of 300, Watchmen and the upcoming Sucker Punch, says that when he starts work on the sixth, he's going to act like the others don't exist.

Christopher Reeve gave what many people consider to be the quintessential Superman performance in the late seventies and early eighties, and the 2006 reboot, Superman Returns owed a great deal to those earlier films. Snyder approach will be a little different, however, and he says that while he's going to be respectful to the canon and the comics, it will be his own take on the character, not someone else's.

He compared it to the differences between the Batman movies of the 90s, and Christopher Nolan's relaunch of the character with Batman Begins in 2005. Snyder said that Nolan - who is both a producer and a creative consultant on the movie - was a fantastic person to work with, calling him respectful, helpful and hilarious. Nolan's focus, he said, was on making the movie as good as possible, and that they had a great "give and take" relationship.

As good as the Christopher Reeves movies were - especially the first two - setting them aside is probably for the best. It's been more than thirty years since the first one came out, and the character of Superman has changed and evolved since then, including dying and then coming back to life. It's about time we got a new cinematic vision for Superman, and it looks like that's exactly what Snyder wants to give us.

Source: Hero Complex [http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/03/16/zack-snyder-wont-look-back-theres-been-no-other-superman-movies/]


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Feb 13, 2008
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Logan Westbrook said:
He compared it to the differences between the Batman movies of the 90s, and Christopher Nolan's relaunch of the character with Batman Begins in 2005.
So, mangling the characters into "everymans", making them "real" with "real" jobs and "real" product placements, loosely elbowing in another slush pile script and then getting one or two star names to sell it on; while hoping for a tragedy to sell it on?

Why not just avoid Hollywood altogether as they've proven they just take names, tack on scripts and sell it wholesale to people desperate for their armful of trash?

Cynical? Moi?
 
Jan 23, 2009
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Superman is a dated concept and character. I think we should let it die, and stop trying to make a movie that won't work because of basic logic flaws with the character that the premise is set on.

Dr. Manhattan is the real superman.
 

The Youth Counselor

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
Logan Westbrook said:
He compared it to the differences between the Batman movies of the 90s, and Christopher Nolan's relaunch of the character with Batman Begins in 2005.
So, mangling the characters into "everymans", making them "real" with "real" jobs and "real" product placements, loosely elbowing in another slush pile script and then getting one or two star names to sell it on; while hoping for a tragedy to sell it on?

Why not just avoid Hollywood altogether as they've proven they just take names, tack on scripts and sell it wholesale to people desperate for their armful of trash?

Cynical? Moi?
Everything you described that the Nolan movies supposedly "changed" were present in the Burton and Schumacher Batman movies.

Tim Burton decided to cast average looking Michael Keaton known for his role as "Mr. Mom" as Batman. He turned Bruce Wayne into an average aging everyman with graying curly hair who spoke unexciting lines. Instead of being thieves from the getgo, The Penguin became a politician, Catwoman was a secretary, and The Riddler some geeky engineer. The Burton and Schumacher movies were the epitome of Hollywood excess and product placement. Every actor was an A-list celebrity, and everything featured in those movies were for sale.

And as for tragedy, Anton Furst whose dreamlike and otherworldly vision designed Gotham City, Batman, the Batmobile and etc... committed suicide by leaping off a parking garage between Batman and Batman Returns and the press made a big commotion between those movies.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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The Youth Counselor said:
Everything you described that the Nolan movies supposedly "changed" were present in the Burton and Schumacher Batman movies.
And is why I hate Hollywood. They can't even get their changes straight.

The one change they never did was to return to the original character. Which is what most of us want to see when we see a film based on that character.
 

The Youth Counselor

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
The Youth Counselor said:
Everything you described that the Nolan movies supposedly "changed" were present in the Burton and Schumacher Batman movies.
And is why I hate Hollywood. They can't even get their changes straight.

The one change they never did was to return to the original character. Which is what most of us want to see when we see a film based on that character.
I disagree. I walked out of Batman Begins, extremely flabbergasted because I had never thought I'd see a true to character Batman in live action.
 

tautologico

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
The Youth Counselor said:
Everything you described that the Nolan movies supposedly "changed" were present in the Burton and Schumacher Batman movies.
And is why I hate Hollywood. They can't even get their changes straight.

The one change they never did was to return to the original character. Which is what most of us want to see when we see a film based on that character.
What "original" character? All the popular superheroes were characterized in different ways through the ages, especially Batman. Comics fanboys like to dismiss the camp 60s series with Adam West, but in the big picture, it is as valid as any other Batman characterization. In fact, most people that don't read comics probably know this characterization as THE Batman.

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller was a popular characterization that changed Batman (in the comics) for subsequent years. The Nolan films capture this characterization quite well. I'm a long-time fan of Batman and I loved both Nolan films. The fact that most people had only seen Batman mostly as its Adam West version is one of the reasons the new Batman movies are so popular.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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The Youth Counselor said:
I disagree. I walked out of Batman Begins, extremely flabbergasted because I had never thought I'd see a true to character Batman in live action.
I disagree. I fell asleep because what they'd given us was The Punisher sans guns. The clue being "superhero" (And FGS don't start the argument again. He is. Deal with it. His super-powers are wealth, security and hyper-learning)

tautologico said:
The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller was a popular characterization that changed Batman
into a steaming pile of excrement. Miller is a hack that wrote out his own misanthropy.
 

tautologico

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On topic, I think one of the things that really help Superman Returns back was excessive reverence and respect for the Christopher Reed/Richard Donner movies. Brandon Routh tried to mimic Christopher Reed's acting too much, Lex Luthor was more of a clown than a vicious super villain, and so on.

I don't think we need a grittier/darker Superman, but we could use some new take on the hero, instead of trying to mimic well-liked movies from decades ago.
 

The Youth Counselor

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
The Youth Counselor said:
I disagree. I walked out of Batman Begins, extremely flabbergasted because I had never thought I'd see a true to character Batman in live action.
I disagree. I fell asleep because what they'd given us was The Punisher sans guns. The clue being "superhero" (And FGS don't start the argument again. He is. Deal with it. His super-powers are wealth, security and hyper-learning)

tautologico said:
The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller was a popular characterization that changed Batman
into a steaming pile of excrement. Miller is a hack that wrote out his own misanthropy.
Punisher sans guns? Huh? If by the fact that the Punisher is a generic template for action hereos (character survives tragedy, willpower drives him to seek justice and vengeance) I guess but that's such a loose argument it's fallen.

BTW, they never did the Punisher right on screen either.
 

Jaebird

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Has anyone here seen the first Superman movie, recently? Because, as much as I enjoyed it, the movie doesn't hold up, for me. Personally, the only Superman I want to see in live-action film form is the incarnation from the Bruce Timm cartoons.
 

tautologico

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
The Youth Counselor said:
I disagree. I walked out of Batman Begins, extremely flabbergasted because I had never thought I'd see a true to character Batman in live action.
I disagree. I fell asleep because what they'd given us was The Punisher sans guns. The clue being "superhero" (And FGS don't start the argument again. He is. Deal with it. His super-powers are wealth, security and hyper-learning)

tautologico said:
The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller was a popular characterization that changed Batman
into a steaming pile of excrement. Miller is a hack that wrote out his own misanthropy.
You're out of luck then, and it's no use blaming Hollywood, because this Batman has been quite popular in the comics for years, and now is quite popular in the movies too. It's actually surprising that Hollywood has taken so long to follow the comics (not really, Hollywood didn't "get" comics until recently).

I don't know if you have read The Dark Knight Returns. Most people will agree today that Miller is now a hack, but no one thought this of him back then. And this is because he did things that stood out. He's not a fantastic writer, but when his ego was in check he was able to combine great art and atmosphere with appropriate writing. He was a comic book artist, in essence, making stuff that was greater than the individual parts.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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The Youth Counselor said:
BTW, they never did the Punisher right on screen either.
The instances where they've got Heroes right on screen is close to minimal. Even Spiderman missed out on some key features. Number 1 being the word "Super".

These people aren't the same as us. In Superman's case, never has been. He should always be slightly alien, and Christopher Reeve managed that. His Clark Kent was far more the mask.

Bats, I don't think any actor has pulled it off successfully yet, even Adam West. The Animated Series has nearly nailed it, because Batman is less of a human and more a force of nature. He's V, Sherlock Holmes and Judge Dredd all in one. He's as much a sociopath as Joker, it's just Batman has an honour code.

Unlike Superman, Batman doesn't have a secret ID. He just has times when he's not being Batman. Like Picard, Gandalf, Jules Winnfield or Gordon Freeman, he's above humanity. Homo Supernus. Bruce Wayne doesn't go to the loo, have bad hair days or get dumped. He's the [sub]hate myself[/sub]Goddam Batman.

That's what they've missed, and what they miss with Superman. They're not men.
 

C117

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Hope he makes "Death of Superman." That storyline is just awesome!
 

Casual Shinji

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Let's hope Chris Nolan doesn't deprive this movie of its emotion or theatrics like he does with every fucking movie he makes.
 

joes

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A lot of Nolan hate on the thread, but none for Mr. Snyder? I'm quite surprised.