Bryan Singer to Direct Superman

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well its true this is from Variety


Both good news and bad news. Variety has just confirmed that "X-Men" series director Bryan Singer signed a deal Friday to develop and direct Warner Bros.' Superman. The bad? He will not be doing X-Men 3. Here are highlights from the article, we'll link to the full article when it becomes available...

-Singer, who helmed "The X-Men" comicbook adaptations for Fox, is expected to work with "X-2""X-2" scribes Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris to draft a tentpole that starts production late this year in Australia.

-A tug-of-war over Singer's next project had been going on for weeks, with Fox's third "X-Men" installment competing with Warner's remake of "Logan's Run" to land the helmer. It now looks likely that Singer will not do the third "X-Men," even though he has an overall deal with Fox.

-Besides the recent exit of helmer McG from the "Superman" project, producers Neal Moritz and Gilbert Adler have apparently disappeared from the scene as well. The fate of Jon Peters also is up in the air.

-The studio apparently scrapped a J.J. Abrams script that WB once was high on.

-The studio tapped Australia as a reasonably priced shooting location, with a budget said to be around $200 million, and wanted to put the franchise in the hands of Adler and Moritz. But Moritz's deal was never made and it's uncertain whether Adler, who did have a deal, will remain involved.

-The WMA-repped Singer also is said to have a new take on the pic. Before his involvement, it was to revolve around Superman's battle with Lex Luthor and a mysterious figure from Krypton who has come to hunt down the Man of Steel.

-"My interest in Superman dates back many, many years," Singer said. "In fact, it was the Richard Donner classic film that was my day-to-day inspiration in shaping the X-Men universe for the screen. I feel that Superman has been late in his return and it is time for him to fly again


The Bad news no X-Men 3 for him, they better get a good diretor to do it that is all I can say. It is good for Superman, it can finally get made.

[JMK]

Well good for Superman, bad for the X-Men series. Of course now that the tone is set in the X-Men series, they should have no problem finding a capable director to pick up the ball. The best part is that now a terrific guy is in charge of the Superman project, so optimism can go way up again.

[ReaperFett]

This is confirmed director #3,465. I'd wait until it starts shooting to get enthusiastic :)





Stupid sucky Superman, ruining my X-Men! :mad

[jjwr]

Wow....sucks for X-Men, Great for Superman. I could see him doing a awesome superman movie.

I doubt this will happen but for me they need to get the original Superman Score back, you just imagine a teaser trailer....blue screen and all of a sudden they kick up the main theme with the big S right in the middle of the screen, let it play for about 10-15 seconds with the date its coming out......that would sell me in a heartbeat!

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah John Williams did that score. Honestly I am not worried first off the changes in directors happened under the previous president the one before Alan Horn. Horn has really changed WB around for the better, it was he who fixed Batman. Also I am not really worried about X-Men they have the script done. Singer was helping them work on before this was settled, and he will still produce it just won't direct. They just need to find a capable director to do it, which isn't that hard. But for Superman it finally gives the project what it needs a crediable director in control, and I am sure Singer will have final say, WB has learned their lesson and are approaching Superman like Batman, so I think this project will work out.

[Jedi Master Carr]

This I really like

It looks like our report from the 12th seems to have worked out for all parties. Singer has "Wolfganged" from Logan's Run and will now make Superman his next project.

We've heard that Bryan's dream since he was a kid, since he first saw Superman: The Movie, was to direct his own Superman movie. Nobody is more passionate about doing this movie than Bryan Singer. When asked at a press conference if he referenced any other films when making X-Men he replied:

"The only film that I used as a template was the first act of Superman I to describe that level of seriousness and elegance that I hoped to bring to it. When young Clark Kent is growing up with his family. The idea that this boy from the stars falls into your cornfield and raise him. That was an analogy. Other than that I tried to make it as real and as human as possible and still maintain the spectacle and fantasy that is X-Men."

We hear that Singer's vision of Superman is to ground his world in reality but keep the fantastical elements of the character alive. A major part of Donner's vision was to convince the audience that a man could fly and Singer will go down a similar route. A source close to Singer said that he wants to pose the question "What would happen and how would we react if tomorrow a flying guy dressed in primary colors appeared on the news saving people's lives?" So don't expect a macabre Burton style hero, or a Raimi hyper-real approach, or even the Nolan approach. Singer's take will be unique, with an eye on the real world and the human element of the story.


That is some cool stuff, I think Singer will be great, it is cool to see he was a big fan of Superman, I am a little excited about this movie now.

[ReaperFett]

I don't think the original score should be used. I think they should modify it so it suprises you upon first hearing.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well it would be neat to hear it but I don't think they will rehire Willliams, heck he is not even sure he has time to do Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire I doubt he could squeeze another superman into his time.

[Jedieb]

note to Singer: Please, please, please, remember, Superman is NOT Batman or Daredevil. Over the last few years whenever I hear Superman rumors there's always some script or treatment floating around that tries to turn the Man of Steel into some dark, brooding, tortured soul. There's nothing wrong with having Blueboy suffer a bit, but don't try to deck him out in black and make him into a Kryptonian Batman.

Man, would I love to see Superman face off against Doomsday....

[Jedi Master Carr]

It sounds like Singer is a real fan and I don't think he will go that route, not sure what he means a different direction. I would like to see a Luther, Braniac combo (if Braniac is done right) I guess they could put Metallo in there instead of Braniac he has thought Supes a lot in the comics. Doomsday would be cool but might be tough, Singer likes to be realistic and not do big stuff so I think stuff like Doomsday and Darkseid won't happen, at least not at first. We might get Metallo or Braniac possibly or something else entirely.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Now this is speculation on superman fans, but they seem to think that Singer will sign Spacey to play Luthor. Now that would be awesome. Kevin Spacey would make a great Luthor. They seem to think this will happen because the two are close friends.

[Alex]

X3 should have no problems keeping up with what's going on. After two films, and the research the actors did, they know their characters. They were extremely well-cast from the start, and they'd be able to act out a good movie regardless of who directed it. And there are plenty of good directors out there -

If anything, Superman is more likely to end up like Spiderman than Batman or Daredevil. BM and DD are, for starters, supposed to be tortured souls, which drove them to become who they are. They're there to fight injustice. Superman on the other hand, is there to preserve justice. If you go with the colour-scheme of the outfit, and the fact that, unlike Batman and Daredevil, Superman saves lives 24/7 (the others tend to work only at night), its gonna end up much less dark and brooding. Watch through Spiderman, and (from what i've seen from the trailers) Spiderman 2. He's got the whole Superman shirt-ripping thing going on. I reckon that the feel we got from Spiderman is the feel we'll get from Superman.

And besides, Superman in black has been done before. New Adventures of Superman. Dean Kain. When Superman got abducted to new Krypton, or something weird like that. Don't remember much...except that Superman looked way camper than normal.

About the score. I'm not sure if many of you will agree with this, but I think they should re-make the original. Its pretty distinctive, and works great for dramatic scenes. They could just re-record Superman, with more modern instruments.

One thing I am worried about though...sort of, anyway. Is the Superman movie going to end up as a cinematic release of Smallville? Thats WB, I think. We've already seen who Lex was in that, and the Clark-Lex relationship. We've seen what the Daily Planet looks like. We've seen the farm. Are they gonna use the same locations, and actors cast to look like the series actors? If so, is Superman gonna be a giant spoiler for Smallville series? Or are they gonna time it so that Smallville finishes right before Superman comes out? Is Smallville gonna lead up to Superman? They're probably gonna have to do something that at least doesn't contradict Smallville...it'd be stupid to discredit their own show.

I'd like to see some focus on the "origin of Superman" thing. If they take Smallville into account, they've already laid down Clark's origins, his arrival on Earth, and the development of his powers. What I wanna see is the event that turns Clark Kent: Farm Boy into Clark Kent: Superhero. Maybe if they set it when Clark starts working at the Planet, and finish off the lead-up to that with Smallville. He's gonna meet Lois Lane (please cast someone hot!), and he's gotta get beyond the Lana Lang thing. He's gotta have a bust-up with Lex, so they end up on opposite sides. He's gotta replace his childhood friends with Jimmy. There is a lot that, because its WB doing it, and because of Smallville, will limit Singer's work. X-Men was great, because he developed an idea that was already there. I'm not sure how creative Singer will be able to get now he's limited by Smallville.

Of course, he could just totally disregard Smallville altogether...I certainly wouldn't blame him. :)

[jjwr]

I think Smallville is out the window, yeah its a popular show but they've only got 65 years of history to draw on instead so there is no shortage of material :)

I won't lie, I haven't seen Smallville but after seeing X-Men and Singers comments on Superman and his style the movie should be nothing like the show.

Just about everyone knows who Superman is, if they do this movie right, cast it right, original score(A MUST I SAY!) this movie could end up as one of the highest grossing movies ever.

Spiderman kind of leapt out at everyone, a great Comic Adventure that really hasn't been seen in a long time, not really like X-Men, more mainstream, Superman is that to another level.

Done right, with the right release dates and all that this could be a 500M-US/1.5B WW Movie.

As far as comics go I'm mainly a Flash & X-Men Fan, those are the books I read month in and month out since I started reading comics some 14 years ago, I do read some Superman in JLA but will rarely read his own books. I was as excited as anyone about the X-Men movies, they rock, but Superman.....thats a whole other level of movie, he's the ultimate hero, the great boyscout, he's what people think of when they think of a Superhero.

I'd been hearing the rumors about Superman for a while but until I heard the Singer confirmation I was never excited about it, we all know what he can do and he can deliver the kind of Superman movie that Donner delivered, he can make us believe in the Man of Steel. Before Singer it was a wash whether it would be good, hokey, cheesy, or none of the above. He adds credibility, both to the public and to the fandom.

With the exception of Episode 3 this is the movie I'm looking forward to the most, if they stick that same opening in there you'll have massive goosebumps abound during the first teasers.

Its Superman, nuff said!

[Figrin D'an]

I can't honestly seeing what amounts a remake having any shot at that kind of overall boxoffice gross. It could do well, but not that well.

I realize there are a number of people excited about this, but honestly, there are just as many saying "Why do we need another Superman film?' For a lot of people my age or older, Donner's film with Christopher Reeves is firmly entrenched as THE silverscreen image of Superman. It's not going to be easy to supplant that.

I think reusing the original Williams score would be a mistake. Yes, it's very distinctive (it's one of the best film scores of all time, IMO), but if the producers want this film to stand on it's own, it needs to be detached from the original. Paying homage to Donner's film with sublty in the score, or in a particular scene, would be fine. But overdoing the similarities is just going to make people think that they took the original film and updated it.

This is a wait-and-see project, from my perspective. There's too many things that can occur to completely mess it up for me to get excited about it.

[Charley]

On one hand, I'm sad that I won't get X3 any time soon.

On the other hand, its one less movie with Halle Berry in it :D

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well X3 will still get made just with a different director most likely. Also I think Superman could do 300 million at the box office if it is done right. I think they could make a better film, especially concerning Luthor. Hackman's version I am sorry sucks, Luthor was a genious, a serious and evil man, Hackman's version is not that he is too funny to be Luthor. I want to see that done better, I want to see LexCorp, etc, that is what I am hoping for out of this.

[Malcolm Trippen]

Originally posted by jjwr
I think Smallville is out the window, yeah its a popular show but they've only got 65 years of history to draw on instead so there is no shortage of material :)

I won't lie, I haven't seen Smallville but after seeing X-Men and Singers comments on Superman and his style the movie should be nothing like the show.



I'm not on about the styleof the movie being like the show...just the history. In Smallville, they have "meteor rocks" that are essentially kryptonite. They've re-done and set out Clark's powers, what his heat vision looks like, how he sees X-Ray, etc. They also had the meteor rocks giving other people special powers and such. I was on about whether or not they're gonna go with that, or disregard it. Coz lets face it...it would be a little dumb on WB's part if they didn't at least suggest it - having things working or looking differently to the show would essentially de-validate it. WB isn't stupid...they won't risk loosing viewers. When Smallville first came out, people wondered how far it would go, and if it would end up in a Superman movie. WB now has the movie...it would make sense if it matched up. Singer could do whatever he wanted with the story and the style...its just a few facts that would make the difference.


I agree about Lex...he should be really cunning. Hackman played him too clumsy. It was almost as if anyone could have beaten him. Superman needs a villain who can outsmart him, and he can outsmart. One of the good things about the New Adventures of Superman (one of the few) was how often Lex came up with a trap or a plan, and snared Superman. He got away, but it did show that he was only "human". It'd be good to see that going on again.

[jjwr]

Coz lets face it...it would be a little dumb on WB's part if they didn't at least suggest it - having things working or looking differently to the show would essentially de-validate it. WB isn't stupid...they won't risk loosing viewers.

The same can be said for the past 65 Years of Superman's history, Smallville is a very small blip in a very well defined story. Yes those changes are in Small-Ville and its popular but to change certain aspects of it could really turn some people off.

Its really too bad the Small-ville lead isn't older, he's a good young actor but I don't think he can pull off the Superman Lead with full costume, off hand I'm not even sure who I could see in the role. Reeves did Superman very well, same person & body with today's technology and it would be spectacular.

I liked Hackman's Luthor, don't forget that movie came out in the 70's when comics in general were still sillier than they are now, not as silly as the 60's but nowhere near as dark & gritty as the 80's & 90's(Batman, Shadow, Crow, etc).

[Jedieb]

Smallville's only got a niche audience. The last Dean Cain series got more exposure and hihger ratings because it was on ABC. I wouldn't be surprised if Singer and company pay little, if any, attention to the series. They may throw in a token cameo from one of the cast members, but that's about it.

[jjwr]

Ah Dean Cain's Superman, I really enjoyed that show, it was a lot better before the marriage, quite enjoyable really.

[Zasz Grimm]

Sidestepping the major issue here...


They're remaking Logan's Run? That's kinda stupid, seeing as how the original was excellent. I doubt I'll see that if it comes to being.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well that is getting pushed back, at the same time Logan's run was a failure at the box office. So I am guessing WB is hoping for that to be different this time.