David Dobkin to Direct The Flash
We all knew from the beginning that Warner Bros planned to use the Justice League of America movie to spin-off a few new DC superhero movie projects. Or at least that is the plan. Earlier this year, before all this JLA craziness, Night at the Museum helmer Shawn Levy signed on to make a movie based on The Flash. But Levy had to leave the project for undisclosed reasons. I mean, the guy has like seven other projects in development as a director (and a few others as producer), so it’s likely that time became an issue.
The big news tonight is that Wedding Crashers and Fred Claus director David Dobkin has signed on with Warner Bros to make the project. Dobkin told MTV that his Flash movie will be set in the same universe as the Justice League of America movie, and will follow the Wally West incarnation of the character. Both Wally West and Barry Allen are said to be heavily featured in the Justice League movie, which means that whomever signs on to play The Flash, is also gunning for this solo project. It should also be noted that Ryan Reynolds has publicly expressed interest in the role if the new script’s incarnation was Wally West.
This new bit also fits with rumors that the JLA film opens with the funeral of Barry Allen. Allen was the second Flash (1956-1986), preceding his nephew (by marriage) Wally West. The fact that Warner Bros has hired another director for the project before JLA goes into production, suggests to me that they want to strike quickly on a solo project, while the iron is hot. Asked about his vision for the Flash, Dobkin teased a somewhat melancholy tagline: “You can’t outrun yourself.”
But is the guy who made Wedding Crashers and Shanghai Knights the right guy to make this superhero movie? I’m still not sure George Miller is the right guy to make Justice League…
Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh Off Superman Sequel?
A sequel to Superman Returns has been in limbo since the beginning. Warner Bros was unhappy with how the film performed, and fans were unhappy with the lack of action and unnecessary out-of-canon third act plot twist. But director Bryan Singer showed up at Comic Con expressing his desire to make a sequel that would give the fans what they wanted. Warner later announced that Superman: Man of Steel was given the official go-ahead, and a June 2009 release date was touted. Then Singer got distracted by the Tom Cruise WWII film, and a Justice League movie appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Variety’s Anne Thompson wrote a blog post last week which I quickly dismissed as an opinion piece. But I’ve since been told that the comments were more fact based than opinion. So here are Anne’s comments about the current state of the Superman sequel, Justice League and third Batman film:
“Speaking of DC Comics pics, it is highly unlikely that Bryan Singer will return to shoot the next Superman movie. (The director is finishing up Tom Cruise’s Nazi film Valkyrie, and prepping The Mayor of Castro Street). The next Superman we will see on the big screen will not be Brandon Routh, but a younger Superman among a cast of youthful superheroes in The Justice League. That movie will likely not be shot, however, until after the WGA strike is resolved. Warners is so happy with Dark Knight that their fondest hope is that Nolan will return to do another Batman.”
Warner appears to want to do a total reboot with the DC comic line-up, aside from their successful Batman franchise. So it sounds to me like Routh might also be out as Superman (ie read: MY SPECULATION, not Anne’s), which is a shame considering he didn’t do a bad job. Plus, why bring Singer’s extra baggage on for Justice and the sequel? It’s bad enough that they’ll have two Batmans to market.
And while I love Singer, and wish he would return for Man of Steel, I must admit it’s a smart move by the Warner execs to cast a new Superman for Justice League. They’re planning for a franchise. They want a young star who can take on a trilogy or two.
But Warner Bros doesn’t understand is that fans don’t want the teen titans. They don’t want more-cartoony. But this appears to be the direction they are heading towards. I’m convinced that fans want dark and edgy, real but tounge firmly in cheek, action packed but with a dramatic backbone. Why can’t the studios look back at how the former comic book movie franchises fell, and see that this is the wrong move to make? Maybe because while most everyone I’ve talked to hated Spider-Man 3, it is still the 12th highest grossing film of all time. And with statisics like that floating around, executives are likely to believe that fans want things like multiple villains and corny dance sequences in Jazz clubs.
And it’s a shame because I think Singer could have made an incredible Superman sequel if he was given the space. But that film, we might never ever see.
Hayden Christensen As Superman?
Yes, you read that right…Hayden Christensen As Superman.
Cinema Blend got word from a rather dominating female who pinned Adam Brody up against a wall and beat him until he revealed information about the Justice League movie to her. Brody is playing The Flash, along with Common as Green Arrow and Megan Gale as Wonder Woman. Adam Brody was in a bar when confronted by the beast, and here is what happened.
“I asked Brody to sign a napkin, and asked what he/they were doing here. They’re in BC to check out locations for their new superhero movie Justice League is Mortal. Brody pointed at Miller and said “George is our director”. He said he’s playing The Flash, Common is playing Green Arrow (or Lantern, one or the other), Armie Hammer (sounded like Arm and Hammer) is Batman, someone from “mad max” is Martian Man-hunter (didn’t catch the name) and Hayden Christensen is Superman. Brody also nodded to the woman to his right and said “she (he said her name but i didnt catch it) is in it too”. Oh, and they had lots of drinks.”
So either Adam Brody is either A) drunk or B) scared or C) Hayden Christensen may actually be putting on the famous cape.
Everyone can understand why Brandon Routh was cast as Superman in Superman Returns, because he looks the part. He has the dark hair, tall figure and muscles. But I can’t see why they would cast some like Hayden Christensen as Superman…oh wait, I can. It’s Hollywood!
Australia May Not Be Getting The Justice League
One of the main reasons the Justice League movie is not moving forward as much as it would like too after the writers strike, is down to one thing. Australia. Director George Miller has been trying to get the film made in his native Australia so that it can benefit from a 40% refundable tax offset. Many films have been rewarded with help from the Australian Government, such as Baz Luhrmann latest movie. The films leading actors, Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, are Australian. Baz Luhrmann himself is Australian, as are two of the writers. It was all filmed in Australia and the name of the damn movie is called Australia! It doesn’t get more Australian than that! The problem the Australian Government have with The Justice League is that is it described as ‘an American story that will be performed in American accents.’George Miller and Warner Brothers have tried. They have hired many Australian actors for the lead roles, such as Megan Gale as Wonder Woman. They have also ditched the word ‘America’ from the title, instead calling it Justice League Mortal.
George Miller spoke about the situation to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry is being frittered away because of very lazy thinking,” Miller said. “If that’s going to be the final decision, they’re throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars of investment that the rest of the world is competing for and, much more significantly, highly skilled creative jobs.”
Miller said he had “utter creative control” over Justice League and plans to appeal against the decision. “It feels to me like I’m not fighting for this film. I’m fighting for the Australian film industry.”
The Australian-born director said the industry needed movie franchises, even if they were not identifiably Australian, to boost production, improve skills and draw talent back from overseas.
“New Zealand built up their franchises through Hercules and Xena into Lord of the Rings,” he said. “Now they’re doing three Tintin films, two more Hobbit films and Halo. They’ve got work for 15 years in that country.”