A comment on this whole 'Superman' script mess
Wed, October 6, 2010 
Well, I have to say my morning was pretty good until I did my usual film website readings and saw this story going around the net regarding the fact that David Goyer's script for the new Superman film is apparently a mess. I was even more irked by the fact that reportedly Zack Snyder wasn't even the first choice to direct the flick and that Darren Aronofsky and Ben Affleck passed on the project because of the quality of the script, or lack thereof. Let me just say this loud and clear so everyone gets this through their heads...BS!
Now I know what you're all thinking, what does this contributing writer to ThinkMcFlyThink (the future of movie news, by the way), know about the new Superman project? Well I'll be honest, nothing. I have no clue what's going on behind the scenes at Burbank. What I do have though is something called logical thinking. Let me explain.
1) The first news of David Goyer writing the new Superman film, with Christopher Nolan producing, was reported way back on exactly February 24th. Today is October 6th. That is nearly 8 months since the initial story broke. I don't know about you, but 8 months to me seems like more than enough time to get a script 'right' and not rush it. Not to mention, Goyer had already talked the story over with Nolan weeks before the initial announcement, so we're talking more like 9 months in actuality.
2) Christopher Nolan is the 'godfather' behind this project. Has the man ever done anything that wasn't quality and screamed "I took my time with this"? No. Never. The man would not put his talents behind a project (along with his wife, Emma Thomas) and move forward when it wasn't ready to be put into production.
3) One bit of news that everyone is forgetting from the initial announcement of Goyer writing the Superman film is that Jonah Nolan was working on the script as well. Now, I'm not saying Jonah was as involved as Goyer in putting the story together, but I guarantee the guy took a pass at the script. Goyer, Chris, and Jonah are like a team now with whatever they do. They should be nicknamed' The Brothers Nolan and Dave.' No?
4) While it can be argued that Aronosfky and Affleck are better quality filmmakers than Snyder, you're forgetting one thing. Those two have nearly zero experience with special effects and large budgets. Snyder does. Even though his films might lack substance and emphasize style, he knows how to make a big budget flick. He's been there. Just like in sports. Would you go with the talented rookie who's never been in a pressure situation before, or go with the seasoned veteran who knows how to get the job done? Exactly.
5) If there's one thing Warner Bros. has shown over the past 5 years or so, it is that they are committed to bringing high quality comic-book movies to the silver screen. Green Lantern was in-development for well over 3 years before the Martin Campbell directed flick even went into production. Now I know WB has a deadline for Superman, but I can't imagine them rushing a flick so quickly to the point that if it fails, it won't matter if they retained the rights anyway.
This is all just my opinion, and I know others will have theirs it what is happening right now with the new Superman flick, but before anyone calls panic on what is happening, just take a deep break, relax, and think about the situation for a second. That's what I did.
Reader Comments (8)
In regards to question 4, I'd take Mark Sanchez over Kerry Collins any day even though Collins has more experience. ;)
And as for 5, its not hard to imagine Warners rushing and ruining this movie as they already did it once in 2006.
HA yeah but I'd take Collins over a Tim Tebow!
As far as rushing goes for Warners, they've been developing this flick since the end of last year, 2009. The film is suppose to come out December 2012. That's three years. Is that really rushing?
I agree I can't believe the script is a mess either. Now I think its a cool take they will do. But its been known that david and jonah been wroking on it since last year. Then wb loved it. That was when it was releveaed to us back in feb. So I to beliefe the scrippt is ok. Plus really film isn't likely to shoot to atleast june the earliest so that is plently of time for david, jonah,chris,and zack to iron out and issues.
Also, even if the film starts production next summer, they will probably film for 6-8 months. That means they'll start post-production around December 2011-January 2012. That's almost a year of post to put the film together. It seems like they have more time on their hands then people think.
But Tebow isn't really an NFL style QB. I'd take Bradford over Collins.
I see what you're saying. I agree they probably aren't rushing it. Of course, that doesn't mean it is high quality. After all, Warners loved everything that Singer did. At this point I am very cautiously optimistic about this movie. I've maintained for a long time that Nolan and Goyer are the wrong kind of creative team, just based on their style and tones. Snyder has done nothing to make me feel any better nor do the "script details." But I want to see start seeing some casting, hearing some more about the script, etc before I start really building an opinion.
I pretty much agree with 1), but I think it could be a little more. Jonah was announced as TDK's writer in February of that year, despite Jonah confirming he was done the first draft at the end of the previous year. So, no matter when the announcements occur the timetables don't follow those exactly. Goyer could've have very well been working on the script 10 months or more. Didn't he say that he went to Chris with this idea when they were filming TDK? That's a hell of a lot of time to develop this idea, even if they didn't go to WB with it right away.
I kind of agree with the Chris Nolan statement. On one hand, Nolan has an eye for story telling, so if he sees a story worth telling then there's no doubt he'll want to see it made (as is the case with TMOS). Then again, Nolan fell inlove with Goyer's idea for the film. Who knows what the script has evolved into and if Nolan feels the script is the best version of this idea.
But, assuming there are problems with this script, there's no time for hesitations or roadblocks. One of the reasons WB didn't continue to pursue Aronofsky any further (if that's true to begin with) was because Aronofsky would hault the production of this film to iron-out whatever kinks he saw and make the film his own. WB doesn't have that luxury this time, they can't afford to hault the production on this film, even if it means making it better. They need to get this film ready to lens by summer of 2011 and out by 2012 if they want to keep Superman as a property. I know we want to see a great film, and I'm sure Nolan & WB want a great film out of this as well, but the reality is the lawsuit has set the timetable for this film, so either they gel with it or loose the rights & are forced to make a new deal with the Shusters & Siegels down the line.
Which brings me to Snyder. If Snyder wasn't the initial choice to direct this film, Nolan & WB will never publically admit that Snyder wasn't their first choice or that Aronofsky or Affleck was their first, or whatever. That said, Snyder isn't a bad choice. For one, he's a guy that's been able to gel with other people's visions while still working with in those perameters to create his own. He's not going to fight against gelling with Goyer's script in order to inject as much of his own vision into the project as possible, like Aronofsky. He's going to look at that script and say "how can I make this the best film possible?". Secondly, as you said, he's done larger scaled films before, he knows his way around visual fx & action, so that eliminates that learning-curve for other directors who've never done action before. The question for me is his ability to bring out the emotional core in his films and help us care for the characters. I'm not sure if he's done this Legend of the Guardians as I haven't seen it, but The Man of Steel cannot just be a one-dimensional action thrill ride. Snyder will no doubt provide great visuals and stunning action but if he can't make us care about Superman or agree with the notion that Superman is still relevent & still matters then IMO it's a wasted opportunity.
In short, I don't think WB is going to rush this film to the point where it fails, in fact I think this film will be great, but whatever shortcomings the script has Snyder may just have to do the best with what he's got, as there may not be enough time to polish off the smaller details.
OK, so let's just say the script is a "mess." They have 8 months until filming begins. You're telling me they can't fix a script in 8 months? That's almost 250 days!
That depends on how much of the script would need to be rewritten and how much that would cut into pre-production. All this assuming the script is a "mess", which I don't think it is. At the most, I think there are aspects that could be tweaked or altered on the fly as production moves on ahead, and if they can't work these problems out then they roll with them. But 9+ months should've been enough time to pull out a good script.