Well, yesterday -- as is often my wont -- I was immersed in the great comforting warm bath that is the Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times, when I chanced upon -- as is often the case -- rather interesting and alarming news.
Apparently, the auteur of 300 -- the most insane movie ever to gross over 100 million dollars -- has his sights set on The Man of Steel.
From the Times:
"For his next movie, Zack Snyder will once again take to the skies -- not with owls, but with one of the most recognizable and enduring heroes in comic books: Superman. On Monday, Warner Brothers said that Mr. Snyder was in negotiations to direct a new Superman movie for the studio that is planned for release at the end of 2012. Mr. Snyder, director of 300 and the current animated feature Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, is currently working on Sucker Punch, an action movie focusing on an ensemble of fetishized females [emphasis mine]. Warner Brothers said that David S. Goyer, screenwriter of Batman Begins, will write the script for the new Superman film, and that Christopher Nolan, the Inception and Dark Knight director, will produce."
Okay, just to recap. Snyder has directed movies featuring owls, S&M dominatrixes, and a half-naked gay bad guy who looks like this...
...and this qualifies him to helm a gazillion dollar blockbuster featuring an American icon for close to eight decades exactly -- how?
In all seriousness, given the participation of the estimable Messrs. Goyer and Nolan, Synder's take on the legend may not be as -- for want of a better word -- wiggy as the above might suggest. Although if I was a betting man, that's the way I'd lay my money down.
In any event, and the studio can have this advice for free, I think what the world is really waiting for is a live action version of Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood's epic comic book superhero saga from the 1954 Mad.
I refer, of course, to the battle royale that pitted the titular Superduperman against his nemesis Captain Marbles. If only to see this classic origin sequence....
..featuring the magic anagram SHAZOOM!!!
Now THAT would be a movie worthy of Snyder's, er, peculiar talents.
Gummo on 07 October 2010
I read about that yesterday. Made me ill. Though it could be the first version of Superman to make the Batman & Robin relationship look downright butch.
I have been revisiting the Kirk Allyn Superman serials from 1949-1951 lately; despite getting samey after a while (the same California back roads, the same bad guys in boxy suits, etc.), there's a lot of fun to be had there. Allyn's Superman is practically demented, with a wicked gleam in his eye, and the way they got around the need for expensive special flying effects borders on genius: the flying Superman is animated! And in the second serial, the legendary Lyle Talbot IS Luthor. Accept no substitutes!
the phantom creep on 07 October 2010
To be fair, Snyder's Superman couldn't be as bad as the version Warners was actually considering -- in the late 90s, IIRC -- which was going to star....
Nicolas Cage. I s**t you not.
Gummo on 07 October 2010
I dunno, Phantom, the "reboot", Superman Returns, was pretty awful. Except for the catching-the-plane-in-the-stadium stunt (which could have come right out of a 60s Superman comic book), it was boring and the way the characters were written was just utterly off in every possible way. I spent most of that movie looking at my watch, which I never do.
the phantom creep on 07 October 2010
Saw it in IMAX 3D, which gave me a massive headache.