Making Movies: Superman Returns

[The Mighty Thor]

I found this over on Ain't It Cool News. While it speaks well for the Superman franchise, it might just leave our beloved X-Men in the lurch. Read on to find out why...
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Saturday, July 17, 2004
Warners finally gets it right! SUPERMAN RETURNS! The Confirmed Details Spill To Earth!
Hey folks, Harry here... it is with a great deal of relief, joy and happiness that I can lay out what is happening with the Man of Steel.
As of Today, the deals for Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris have been closed to helm & write from scratch the new SUPERMAN film. This is the X2 team. The team that made, arguably the best of the Marvel Films (arguable only because Raimi nailed the hell out of SPIDER-MAN 2).
The J.J. Abrams script has been completely tossed out. Not of shred of it will remain. That McG ordered SUPERMAN cybersuit (Brilliant Ideas From Mr Hot Wheels, eh?) that Stan Winston's brilliant craftsmen were paid zillions to create is GONE! Today, long time sources like Frosty Skywalker, Sir Etch-A-Sketch and Sir Magnadoodle... those last two have been in the hallways of Warners for the better part of the past decade... and have access to every room. Frosty wrote to tell me that Bryan was signed, and that LOGAN'S RUN and X3 were now dead. While the first part of that is true... LOGAN'S RUN and X3 are not dead. The word from the halls of Warner Bros is that LOGAN'S RUN will be the film that Bryan Singer will make immediately after the Man Of Steel lands in theaters near us all. HOWEVER - if you begin talking to spies at Fox in Tom Rothman's offices and adjoining offices... X3 will be made after SUPERMAN by Singer, or Fox will leave him behind and continue forward with a new director. It'll be interesting to see how the cast will take to that... I know they all love Rothman so. He's a really cute dude, very lovable snugglebunny and obviously the reason that series has been the success that it has been. No, no, really. Ok, maybe that's a fib.
Details on SUPERMAN RETURNS, which is what Team Singer and WB seem to be calling it, are few and far between. But one source, that proved to me today to be quite close to some Warner exec that strikes an amazing resemblence to Lex Luthor himself, hinted to me that this film does not throw the Donner films away and allegedly somehow has something to do with their timeline and history!!! So... from the title, all we're left with is... he must have left, and now he's back. Does that refer to the child of Krypton's absence from theaters, Metropolis, our Planet or what? Will 3 & 4 be canon or merely tragedies? If he's returning, one can assume that he went somewhere, and now feels the need to be back... but why? Where'd he go? Why's he back? I can say though... SUPERMAN RETURNS will not be an Origin Story. We're not going to walk through all that molasses for the umpteenth time, waiting for Kal-El to do something or become Superman again!
The confirmed details are: Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris are on board. It will not be an origin story. And something regarding the Christopher Reeve films and that universe has something to do with this. (though that last one is a shady detail... My source heard that, but when they did... there was no elaboration for the how, what, when, where or why of it.)
I assure you... I'm on this case like Comet, the super-horse! That's right, I'm your super-stud!
While Warners continues to be the craziest most bi-polar studio on planet Earth... It seems they're nailing BATMAN BEGINS... and they finally have a team that I can get enthusiastically pumped up about. Now if only GREEN LANTERN was being done justice the way New Line proposed to Warners in a faithful 3 film Green Lantern Corps super epic. But, a comedic riff by Jack Black... that's just as good right? Sigh. No matter, the team behind X2 will once again have all of us believing that a man can fly!

-Harry Knowles

[Local Hero]

Ok we haven't had an update on this film for a while but since confirmation of Bryan Singer as director the search has been ongoing for someone to don the famous tights.

According to Superhero Hype, actor Michael O'Hearn from the fan film "World's Finest" got a chance to audition for the Bryan Singer-helmed production. In his own words: "I went in on Tuesday at 2:45 at Warner Bros. and met with the casting director. They put me on tape, then last night I got a phone call from my manager who stated he talked to the casting director, and their response was they loved my reading, and they are sending me onto the next level. I hope the fans are on my side. Just to give you an update - all the people at Warner Bros. loved my size. They were all screaming out 'Now that's a jacked up Superman!' The other 2 guys that were reading besides me, were both about 5'10" and 160 lbs. I think they are looking for somebody taller, because the first thing they asked me when they put me on camera was how tall I was. 6'3" -- the same size as Superman."

If you haven't seen "World's Finest" check out <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.comicsuncovered.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=379">http://www.comicsuncovered.com/phpBB2/v ... .php?t=379</a><!-- m -->

[Local Hero]

According to Moviehole.net:

The last few weeks there's been a rumour floating about David Boreanaz doing something with a 'Four' in the title. Everyone assumed he was talking about 'Jurassic Park 4'. Not So.

The role Boreanaz was actually referring to was "The Fantastic Four". Apparently the "Angel" star came close to snagging the role of Ben Grimm/The Thing in the film, but Michael Chiklis was the winner at the end of the day.

All is not lost for Buffy's beau. He's just tested for "Superman" and word is, Bryan Singer liked him. Whether he likes him enough to headline the pricey blockbuster is yet to be determined, but Singer did take to the former WB fave.

Though he is quite known in Jossverse as TV's "Angel", Boreanaz is still a relative unknown, with next to no successful movie credits to his name. Might this work in his favour?

[Local Hero]

Reported by Comics Continuum:

As expected, Warner Bros. Pictures announced on Thursday that Brandon Routh, a 25-year-old native of Iowa with television and film acting experience, has been cast as in the lead role in the new Superman moviee, to be directed by Bryan Singer.

The announcement was made by Jeff Robinov, President of Production for Warner Bros. Pictures.

The untitled Superman movie is expected to begin principal photography in Australia early next year for release in summer 2006. It is produced by Jon Peters, Bryan Singer and Gilbert Adler from a screenplay by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. No other casting has been announced.

Said Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer of Warner Bros., "We are so pleased to have put this extraordinary team of filmmakers and talent together and to be moving forward with a project we've all anticipated so much. I think we're going to make a Superman movie that all of us can be very proud to bring to our audience around the world."

Routh was chosen for the role of Superman following an exhaustive search that spanned the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Thousands of candidates were interviewed before the final selection was made.

Singer said, "Contrary to speculation, it was always my absolute intention to hire an unknown for this role. Brandon is an extremely fine actor who possesses the physical qualifications of Clark Kent/Superman. But he also embodies the legacy and history of this character in a way that makes me certain he's the right choice."

"We respect and appreciate the intense interest that our fans around the world have in Superman, and we went everywhere in search of a talented actor who would represent his look, character and presence," said Robinov. "We think Brandon is a gifted young performer who can re-energize this iconic character and excite new audiences about the legend of Superman."

Routh's television credits include One Life to Live, Gilmore Girls, Will & Grace and Cold Case. He recently wrapped his first feature role in the upcoming film Deadly, starring opposite Laura Prepon.

[The Truth]

No offense to the man but he looks like he'd be better suited to play Luthor. Again, nothing against him personally but even in that picture he looks a bit sinister and I'll bet five against ten that he wasn't even trying to.

~shivers~

[The Mighty Thor]

Ok everybody, since we haven't had an update on the casting of this sure-to-be-excellent film in a while, here are all of the castings and rumors thus far...

Brandon Routh as Superman/Kal-el/Clark Kent
Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor (brilliant!)
Kevin Bacon as John Corbin (the future Metallo)
Jude Law as General Zod (WOW)
Hugh Laurie as Perry White
Daniel Day Lewis as Jor El
Famke Jansen as Laura El
Eva Marie Saint as Martha Kent
Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane
Sam Huntington as Jimmy Olsen
Barry Pepper as a rival Daily Planet reporter
Kal Penn as Luthors right hand lackey
Noel Neill (George Reeve's Lois Lane) in a "small but important role"

I don't know about you guys, but this cast makes me giddy for this flick. There is just so much goodness right there in the cast that it makes you think they are going balls out huge for this film, which they should. This is freakin' SUPERMAN after all!

TMT

[The Truth]

James Marsden, who played Cyclops in the first 2 X-Men movies, has also decided to take a role in Singer's Superman. Unlike X-Men co-star Famke Jansen however, Marsden reportedly won't be returning to do third X-Men movie. O-o!?

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.superherohype.com/news/supermannews.php?id=2454">http://www.superherohype.com/news/super ... hp?id=2454</a><!-- m -->

[The Mighty Thor]

Here is the logo for the new movie, folks. I found it at Super Hero Hype. I like it quite a bit myself, although I hope it is only the logo for the film itself, and not the shield that will appear on the costume. For that I hope they stick with the traditional yellow and red. But if not, I suppose they could do alot worse.

[Enchantress]

And here is the teaser trailer from last night's Smallville...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/supermanreturns/teaser/teaser_med.mov">http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/supe ... er_med.mov</a><!-- m -->

[GlennWalker]

Saw Harry Potter last night - with a very brief teaser for Superman Returns! It used the score from the first two films and Marlon Brando doing the voiceover as Jor-El. Wonderful.

[Enchantress]

I saw it with Harry Potter and duh, didn't realize that was Brando's voiceover work.


I was too excited about the spitcurl to listen to what was being said! :-)