Superman "Flyby" Concept Art

As most of us Superman fans know, things just aren't all that easy when it comes to getting our "Man of Steel" on the big screen. Before the not so universally loved "Superman Returns" hit the big screen in 2006 our beloved man in tights went through a decade of development hell. At one point Brett Ratner was attached to direct with a script that went by "Flyby" penned by J.J. Abrams. Randomly we have been treated to concept designs or storyboards from some of these ill fated projects and concept designer Phil Saunders has released one such piece of concept art on his very own blog.

Here's a random image from the ill-fated Brett Ratner-directed, JJ Abrams-written version of Superman. I was on the show for about 4 months, of which I think about 3 months was without a director. I overlapped BR for about two weeks before he left, and I think about 2 weeks before I left to get married McG took over the show. This is about as un-dynamic a composition as you can come up with, but Production Designer Owen Patterson wanted a straight one-point perspective view of Superman facing off against the Rouser (a Japa... er, Kryptonian Battle Pod, don't ask) so you could compare scale. I had fun designing the Rouser, though.