Frontrunners To Direct Superman: Man Of Steel?
Posted by Franciscoon 22. 07. 2010in News Chat
Last time we checked, the wheels were starting to turn for a new Superman film to actually be made. A great script was hatched between the Nolan brothers and David S. Goyer. Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) was going to “godfather” the film, while Jonah Nolan was given the crack to direct his first ever feature. The studio has not decided who should direct the film. Today, we get news of who are the rumored frontrunners, and that the studio might make big announcements regarding Supes pretty soon.
Collider reports:
The source of this particular item is The Playlist, who remain skeptical about the idea. However, since an intriguing wealth of info originates from a “good source,” it was worth putting into print. The highlights:
-Jonah Nolan is “the frontrunner” to direct Superman, which would be his feature debut. Christopher Nolan is a major supporter of his younger brother at the studio, which certainly can’t hurt. It appears that part of J. Nolan’s appeal is his status as writer/director: Warner Bros. wants a multi-hyphenate filmmaker to keep the payroll low.
-There is a Man of Steel draft that has really wowed the studio, which might help explain Goyer’s presence on the shortlist. According to the source, “It’s either going to be Goyer or Nolan directing from the sounds of it.”
-The gig was offered to the Wachowski brothers, but no dice. (They’re likely engulfed by their Iraqi war film CN9.) Likewise, Zachary Levi of Chuck fame has no involvement with the development of the reboot despite rumors to the contrary.
-Expect an unknown to don the cape, as the studio would like to secure the talent for a three-picture deal. Per the source, “there is a list knocking around, but its nothing major and really worth nothing more than a fan wish-list.”
-Finally, expect “major announcements” on this, the weekend of Comic-Con
As a Superman fan, this is pretty exciting news/rumor. It’s expected for the studio to make a big announcement during this year’s Comic-Con festivities. Maybe we’ll get confirmation to all of the story’s highlights. Or maybe we’ll get just one big confirmation. I’d like for the studio to announce that the film is going to start filming soon, and finally, who’s going to be the director. That’s all I’m asking. As long as Christopher Nolan is involved, I’m at ease.
What do you guys think? Young Nolan or Goyer?
Yawn….
Nolan’s bro is directing for Warners Bro.
Unknown/rising actor- good enough.
Keep The Superman theme march in somewhere, throw it in at the end of film. That’s all I really ask.
Was this going to be a reboot as in a new take on Superman’s origin story?
I would feel more comfortable in letting Goyer direct this since he has actually directed a movie before.
yeah, but have you seen the movies that Goyer has directed? dude is terrible!!!
I’d rather have niether. Jon Nolan has literally no directing experience, and wouldn’t be smart to let him direct something like a highly anticipated film. Goyer has experience, but he’s horrible at it. Give the job to someone who knows what they’re doing.
wasnt j. nolan the main writer of terminator salvation??? we all know how good that was…
No. He came on to rewrite. Its unclear how much he actually changed but you can only sign a turd so much.
Id rather see Jonah Nolan get a chance over Goyer. Nolan at least has a potentially high ceiling while we know exactly what we’d get with Goyer, which is average at best. As far as casting an unknown, i have mixed emotions…I wonder if Routh is on a short list or even has a shot. One guy I would be interested to see as Supes is Jared Padalecki from Supernatural…He has a Superman-esque quality about him.
This can only be good news with Nolan and Goyer at the helm.
As a Batman fan I have still to see an incarnation of Superman that pricks my attention, as I find the character a little to squeeky clean. However this does sound interesting, like it may be a worthy addition to Nolan’s newly created universe and David Goyer’s writing is always top notch.
I’m expecting someting pretty impressive to come out of this new venture.
As long as they get a really good unknown to play Superman, someone that can really pull it off, and keep the original music I’d be thrilled! Sadly as far as the music part goes, more than likely they will create a new theme for the new movie.
They didn’t create a new theme for the last movie. And it was a psuedo retcon/reboot of Superman 2.
WB owns the theme and the character. I bet they keep the theme music.
With a great script comes great responsibility.
If It is a complete reboot I highly doubt they will keep the same theme music. They will more than likely distance themselves from past Superman films on most levels.
J Nolan was involved on Chris’s films so he has enough experience to Direct with Chris Over looking. Tarantino directed Reservoir Dogs with directing a short with some friends. Hopefully J Nolan will do a short or test scene to make a few mistakes. He will learn and it will be good.
Uh, Reservoir Dogs is NOT Superman.
Except for three small exceptions, it’s a minimalistic one set masterpiece. It was also not really a big gamble for Miramax.
A $100M+ Blockbuster that will make or break a year for a studio, it was not.
Also regarding the three picture deal, and how they’ll have to go with an “unknown”, why couldn’t they just give bonuses based on BO performance. I.E. Supe I – 500k plus 1M if the film grosses more than 500M worldwide, another 1M for 750M, another for 1B.
Supe II – 1M if Supe I made less than 500M, 1.5 if it made between 500 and 750M, 2M if it topped 1B, plus the same bonuses as the first.
Supe III – 2M if the combined total gross was less than 1B, 4M if it was between 1 and 1.5B, and 7M if the total grosses were above 2B.
The total an actor could make for that movie: between 3.5M and around 20M. You don’t think an actor would do that? Average 7M for 3 movies and become an icon?
Its safe to say that Jonah Nolan has spent enough time on set and in the editing room and writing scripts that he would be pretty comfortable directing a big budget feature film that his big brother is producing, especially when said big brother is Chris Nolan.
It really isnt as simple as “this guy has zero experience”…its more akin to being an assistant coach on a multiple championship winning sports franchise. This doesnt guarantee success but we know that Jonah knows what goes into making a great film and hopefully alot of brother Chris’ good habits have worn off on him.
It’ll most likely be an unknown since they want a 3 picture deal…
That statement makes little sense, and I don’t see that logic AT ALL…
First of all, that was part of the problem with Brandon Routh, he had no name recognition since few had seen his work, and while that worked with Reeve in 1979, it didn’t work in today’s marketplace.
Most actors who didn’t currently have a job, would take the Superman gig, knowing that it would lead to steady work in the future after the 3 picture deal, and probably making more money then they would ordinarily receive. They didn’t cast unknowns in the LOTR films, and they not only signed three picture deals, but filmed back to back to back.
I have someone for the role in mind, who I’ll intro after my next thought.
I doubt that Jonathan Nolan will direct the new movie, because we are definitely talking about a BIG budget movie, even though his brother would help, you didn’t see Tony Scott getting work because his brother was Ridley, until he made his own movies. Most of the other brothers codirect together. In fact, I could “almost imagine” one of the Scotts directing. Also, I doubt that Jonathan Nolan would work on Superman while Batman 3 is being worked on.
My thoughts: Paul Greengrass, Goyer, Neill Blomkamp and lastly Jonathan Nolan (if the movie comes out in 2014).
So expect the summer of 2013 to be directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Matt Bomer from “White Collar”.
I dont care who direct as long as its not cheesy and cheap…
brandon routh was a good superman/clark kent to me, hes almost a spitting image od christopher reeve, a trilogy with brainiac would be awesome, with hugo weaving playing brainiac, and gotta give J.Nolan a chance, dont know if he can pull it off until you give him a chance
I want to see the Kevin Smith version with Jon Peters producing. WITH the giant freaking spiders!