Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Screenwriting Tidbits: Batman 3, Puss in Boots and The Flash
Posted on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
IESB claims that Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and David Goyer are already working on the screenplay for a third Batman film, but when they talked to producer Charles Roven, they were unable to get a confirmation. I have a feeling that the process is in the earliest of stages (ideas, possible treatment), and that the trio are not huddled around a table in a room with one of them hard at work typing behind a computer screen.
Puss in Boots and The Flash news after the jump.
The latest issue of Production Weekly features a new plot synopsis for David Goyer’s X-Men Origins: Magneto:
“The original X-Men film began with a prologue that showed the character as a child being led to a concentration camp by Nazis and that is the period in which the Magneto film will take place. This setup will allow a future villain to at least flirt with the designation of protagonist since the character will be seen almost exclusively in his formative years. The storyline will heavily involve Professor X, the wheelchair-using X-Men leader. That character was a soldier in the allied force that liberated the concentration camps. The professor meets Magneto after the war and while they bond over the realization that they are alike in their special powers, their differences soon turn them into enemies.”
Goyer’s early screenplay didn’t include Xavier aka Professor X, so it seems like they’ve been tinkering with the story a bit.
MTV has the first trailer for David Goyer’s upcoming supernatural thriller The Unborn. Looks a bit creepy but typical. Goyer may have been involved with crafting the stories for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but his directorial work (Blade: Trinity, The Invisible) has yet to impress me. Watch the trailer below and tell me what you think in the comments.
Official Plot Synopsis: “A young woman is pulled into a world of nightmares when a demonic spirit haunts her and threatens everyone she loves. Starring Odette Yustman, Meagan Good, Cam Gigandet and Gary Oldman, The Unborn is a thrilling tale of one woman’s survival as she fights a family curse and struggles to shut a doorway from beyond our world that has been pried open by someone who was never born.”
Watch the trailer in High Definition on MTV. The Unborn hits theaters on January 9th 2009.
Every Single Dark Knight Sequel Rumor EVER is B.S.
Posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
David Goyer, one of The Dark Knight screenwriters of , confirms what we already knew - All those Dark Knight sequel rumors:
“It’s all B.S. ALL of it,” Goyer told MTV. “Chris and I haven’t even talked about it. He quite understandably is taking a long, long vacation and wants to purge himself.”
So No, Christopher Nolan has not yet signed on for a third film. No story has been discussed beyond the point of a few musings during production of the last film, no actors have been contacted about auditions, and no actors have been cast.
And The Dark Knight sequel gossip continues. Could Cher be in line to play Catwoman in the next Batman installment? The British newspaper The Telegraph is citing a “studio executive” source, claiming that Cher us “Nolan’s first choice” for the role.
“He wants to her to portray her like a vamp in her twilight years,” says the Telegraph’s source. “The new Catwoman will be the absolute opposite of Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry’s purring creations.”
While I agree that Catwoman should be given a Nolanverse-style reboot, if she were to make an appearance in the next Batman film, Cher seems like a strange choice even considering Nolan’s history. Of course, The Telegraph is known for it’s gossipy/tabloid like reports, and unless an actual source is clearly identified, I wouldn’t bet 25 cents on a story like this one. But let us pretend for a second that this rumor is true: I would expect a heavy fan backlash over the casting choice. Not that Nolan hasn’t encountered adverse reaction in his past decisions. From what I remember, when the casting announcement was first made, most fans hated the idea of Heath Ledger as The Joker.
Discuss: What do you think about the slight possibility of Cher playing The Catwoman in Nolan’s third Batman film?
Who even knows if Catwoman will be a featured villain in the third film. Here is what We Know So Far:
- June 29th: Gary Oldman suggested The Riddler might be the main villain during an interview with /Film. It was unclear if he had any information regarding that possible direction, or if he was just thinking out loud.
- July 3rd: Goyer admitted to BatmanOnFilm that the realistic tone of the Nolanverse would prevent some of the more unrealistic characters from making an appearance: “You’re not going to see Clayface in these films”
- July 9th: David Goyer told /Film at the Junket: ‘There are dozens, if not hundreds of other characters that are possibilities. Everyone says you have you use the Penguin or Catwoman. Well, I completely disagree.”
- July 21st: Goyer admits to MTV that he has “talked loosely about” the theme for the third film. And of course, the theme has always been connected with the choice of villains.
- July 27th: The New York Daily News reported that Angelina Jolie had inquired about playing the role.
- August 15th: Variety reports that Warner Bros has offered Christopher Nolan a deal for a third film, but Nolan hasn’t yet signed on: “We have no idea where Chris is going with this,” Alan Horn said. “We haven’t had any conversations with him about it.”
The Truth About Those Dark Knight Sequel Casting Rumors
Posted on Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Since The Dark Knight is headed to become the second biggest grossing film of all time (domestically), rumors have already begun as to what villains will be featured in the enevitable sequel. The latest from the rumor mill has Johnny Depp as The Riddler, Angelina Jolie as The Catwoman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin. Oh my!
Wouldn’t Johnny Depp make a great Riddler? Yeah, BUT the truth of the matter is that Christopher Nolan has not yet signed on for a third Batman film. His brother and screenwriter Jonathan Nolan is supposedly still on the set doing work for Terminator Salvation. And who knows what David Goyer is up to. Even if he is busy penning a treatment, which is doubtful, I’m confident that casting talks won’t take place for quite some time. Nolan is also the type of guy to cast a role only when he has a script in hand. So I’m sure we won’t hear any casting announcements any time soon. But also take note that none of the actors who have played villains thus far were considered A-listers. And by that I mean, none of them alone could (at least, at the time) open a big blockbuster movie.
As to which villains will be featured in the next Batman film?
Goyer recently told MTV that Chris has decided on a theme for a potential third film. And anyone who has seen either of Nolan’s Batman films know that the theme is inexorably tied to the villain. And while I can easily imagine someone like The Riddler in the Nolanverse, turned into a serial killer who leaves clues behind. I can’t quite imagine a theme based on The Riddler, which would effect Bruce Wayne. And the same could be said for many of the prominent characters in the Batman franchise.
And remember, Goyer and Nolan told us that with 70 years of Batman history, they are more interested in some of the “dozens if not hundreds of other characters” that “had not been in the movies before, and had not been in the sixties TV show before.” My guess is that the villain might not be anyone we expect.
Dark Knight Cast and Crew Tease Third Batman Film
Posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by telling you that The Dark Knight ends with the promise of more. A semi-cliffhanger. They have certainly upped the ante for a third film, the question is… will they make one? Director Christopher Nolan has made it clear in numerous interviews that he’s not thinking about another sequel. Rumor has it that Nolan wants to tackle something else next (possibly The Prisoner?). We had the chance to talk to Nolan and the cast, and here is what we learned.
“I knew what I wanted to do with the end of the film before we wrote the story. I wanted the film to feel very complete, which isn’t the same as having a feeling of finality in the ending,” said Nolan. “There was a particular emotion from the ending, and a particular thing we were after in terms of expressing something about Batman, and bringing the entire story back to him. So that it becomes once again, Batman’s film at the very end. He dealt with a very wide number of characters, interacting in all kinds of extraordinary ways. At the end of the day we just wanted to nail the relevance of hero, our core character.”
Since the ending was there from the conception, I asked Nolan if he had a plan for a third film.
“I don’t know what I’d do next, or what would happen next,” Nolan responded. “I felt in doing a sequel that it would be a big mistake to try to hold anything back for future films. You have to put everything you can into this movie and try and make it as great as it can be.”
Christian Bale wants more but admits that it’s all up to Chris.
“I always like to have to think when I’m leaving the theater. I do love any movie that leaves me questioning what has happened, what is going to happen,” said Bale. “I see that in finishing the movie I want to know what will happen, what is going to happen. But it is completely in the hands of Chris, weather he decides to do that or not. It will be a lot of money that he didn’t give you any indication if that was going to happen or not? But it’s completely his decision.” Later adding: “I can’t imagine doing this without Chris. I don’t even want to consider that because he’s created this. This is his.”
But he’s certainly up for the challenge.
“I think there is a great challenge to it for two reasons: one is that there have been a number of sequels that have surpassed the first movie. You know, you look at Godfather 2, Empire Strikes Back… There have not been many where the third in a trilogy has managed to be the best. And I see that as a good enough reason to want to tackle it. There is also another challenge that Heath has done such a superb job with this, then how do you create a superior villain?”
Bale brings up an interesting question. What villain or villains could they possibly tackle in a third film? For the answer we went to the screenwriters, David Goyer and Jonah Nolan.
“We’re not gonna tell you… other than to say that Batman has been published for 70 years. In the first movie we use Ra’s Al Ghul and The Scarecrow, who had not been in the movies before, and had not been in the sixties TV show before. And there are dozens if not hundreds of other characters that fit that bill. Everyone says its gotta be The Penguin or Catwoman… well I completely disagree.”
So while the screenwriters won’t admit they have talked about another sequel, I think it’s obvious they have thought about the possibilities. Jonah says that with The Dark Knight the idea from the beginning was just to make a complete film. Goyer insists: “Both Movies still feel complete. I think if there was not a third one, it’s not like ‘Oh my God, these things haven’t been answered.’”
So will the Dark Knight return again?
“I think Warner Bros would like to do another one,” Goyer admitted. “But it wasn’t until three or four months after Batman Begins had opened that Chris and I sat down and talked about another one. It was a scary proposition trying to do Dark Knight, and it’s sort of a geometrically scary proposition to try to do another one.”
The Dark Knight hits theaters on July 18th 2008.
Discuss: What Batman Villains would you like to see in the next movie?
The Joker, Lex Luthor, The Riddler to Appear in David Goyer’s Supermax?
Posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Get your most asinine soap joke ready in the comments, because it seems that Green Arrow will be joined behind bars by a vast and infamous stable of DC villains in David Goyer’s Supermax. Latino Review took a look at the script by Goyer (Batman Begins, X-Men Origins: Magneto) and Justin Marks (that new Street Fighter) and reports that The Joker, Lex Luthor and The Riddler all make sweet cameos inside the script’s titular prison alongside a laundry list of other DC derelicts including: Blockbuster, Shock Trauma, Gemini, Cascade, Tattooed Man, Multiplex, Djinn, Merlyn, Pied Piper, Latarian Milton, Iron Cross & Heatmonger & Backlash (Aryan Nation), Calculator (yes!), Count Vertigo, Floronic Man, Split and Icicle. Okay, so Latarian Milton is not appearing, but give him a year.
Previously, Goyer stated that many of these villains will be revealed by human name only and sans costumes (obviously), which further exemplifies just how Geek City this project is. LR’s consensus is that the Supermax script is both ridiculously cool and highly accessible to the mainstream, comparative to Batman Begins even: “[Warner Bros.] would be on crack not to make this.” Goyer and Marks quickly touch upon the island cast-away/archery origins of Green Arrow né Oliver Queen, yet another billionaire playboy in our world’s comicverse, and by page 7 (approx. 10 years later), we see Queen in costume and encountering the arrow-laden set-up that lands him behind bars. And not just the bars you’d imagine in an old Elmore Leonard paperback…
“Want to know how cool SUPERMAX is? The prison changes shape, cells rearrange, and reconfigures every night to disorient the prisoners from breaking out. A transforming super prison!”
Applying extra heat to the situation, Queen becomes a, uh, marked man inside due to corporate backstabbing (shades of Iron Man). I’ve always thought that Green Arrow was a hard sell to a big summer audience, but some of my doubts are fading and I can’t wait to check this script out. Of course, as we reported last year, Matt Damon was once rumored for Green Arrow, and if the script’s this strong, I’m sure other A-listers will bite as well. Let’s hope it happens.
A thanks to Slashfilm canuck Jonny for the reminder. Moreover, Canada is still Canada.
Discuss: Do you think The Joker will still show up post-Ledger when (a smaller if) Supermax goes into production? For you, where does Supermax rank in terms of upcoming comic book flicks? I dig the title but who else thinks it won’t stick to the marquee?
Kevin Smith to direct Comic Book Movie… Super Max?
Posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 by Peter Sciretta
Clerks filmmaker Kevin Smith has revealed that he may be doing a Comic Book movie after all. Smith, was originally attached to write and direct The Green Hornet, bowed out after fearing that he would not be able to handle a big budget action movie. Of course, Smith has already lined up his next two films over at The Weinstein Co: a romantic comedy titled Zack and Miri Make a Porno, followed by a horror film titled Red State. But after that, Smith says he might do a superhero flick.
“I think that by that point, by my 10th film, I’ll be ready to take on something that is very visually oriented,” Smith told Wizard. “The 10th movie I think is going to be a comic book movie - not “The Green Hornet,” though. There’s something that we’re kind of negotiating on right now which would actually be pretty cool. I don’t know what the audience for it would be, but I would dig making it because I’ve always been a fan of the character. I can’t say what it is though, because they haven’t locked it in.”
I wonder if the character in question could be Green Arrow.
UPDATE 8/9/07: Kevin Smith Responds to /Film: Not Directing SuperMax
As you may or may not know, David Goyer (Batman Begins, Blade, Dark City) has sold Warner Bros on making a movie based on the Green Arrow DC comics character. Super Max would follow a wrongly convicted Green Arrow as he is incarcerated in a super maxim security prison for out-of-control heroes and super villains. Arrow will come face to face with some of the people he put in the prison, while he attempts to make a prison break. Goyer has said that Arrow was chosen because of “his hard-hitting, moralistic tendencies, seemed like the most interesting hero to put through the institutional wringer.” The project was being worked on by newcomer Justin Marx.
Kevin wrote a 15 issue arc for the rebirth of the Green Arrow comic book series for DC Comics in 2000. So he would be a perfect choice to pick up such a project. The project also falls into Smith’s comment that “I don’t know what the audience for it would be,” as it’s a very unconventional superhero story, at least for the big screen (a similar story was recently done in the Daredevil comic book series). And Smith’s buddy Matt Damon has also been rumored [unsubstantiated] to be involved in the project. Super Max is also on track for a 2010 release, which would also fit into Smith’s schedule.
Or may-be it’s a completely unrelated superhero project that Smith is considering. Any ideas?
Batmanonfilm has gotten their hands on a leaked info sheet for an yet-to-be-announced Batman anime project. The project would function much in the way that the Animatrix did for The Matrix films (which coincidentally was also released by Warner Bros).
The memo says that the project would consist of sic short stories which help bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The PG-13 rated anthology will be geared to core fans and tween boys. The names supposedly attached to write the stories include: “Academy Award nominee Josh Olsen (The History of Violence), screenwriter of the Blade films and Batman Begins David Goyer, and famed comic book writer Brian Azzarello, amongst others.”
I’ve always found this type of intertwining extended movie world to be an interesting idea. I’m actually one of the few who liked the original Matrix video game, which connected the dots between the first and third films, and the Animatrix, using exclusive story footage shot with the film’s main actors as a reward to keep people playing. The quality of the connectivity between The Matrix properties can certainly be debated, but the idea was a good one. You can read the full Batman Anime memo at BOF.
Blade series helmer David Goyer has signed on to direct the X-Men spinoff film Magneto, for 20th Century Fox. Goyer will develop the 2004 screenplay written by Sheldon Turner. The script included Professor X, a soldier in the Allied Forces who helps liberate Nazi concentration camps who meets Magneto after the war. They find a bond with their mutant powers, but their moral differences drive them apart. The film would take place in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The plan was for the film to explore the “psychological roots” of Magneto, kinda like Hannibal Rising did for Hannibal Lecter. And we all know how that film turned out. I’m not sure if this spin-off prequel is a good idea.
Sir Ian McKellen’s participation will be limited. McKellen has said that he would portray the character in Magneto, using the de-aging technology that was applied to him and Patrick Stewart in X-Men: The Last Stand for some of the film. We assume it would either be done using flashbacks or at the end of the story.
Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, Magneto first appeared in X-Men #1 in September 1963. The character has been the X-Men’s primary antagonist since. Depicted as one of the most powerful mutants in the Marvel Universe, he possesses the ability to control magnetism. He is also one of the most morally complex characters in comic book history. A Jewish Holocaust survivor, his actions are driven by the purpose of protecting the mutant race from suffering a similar fate. While his militant actions have made him unpopular with humans, many mutants have come to view him as a savior. He has led several teams against the X-Men, including the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Acolytes.
A couple days back we told you about David Goyer’s unconventional Green Arrow movie titled Super Max. We were intrigued by the concept of a superhero movie which takes place mainly in the confines of a super maxim security prison, where a hero must come face to face with the people he jailed. Sure it’s a copy of the classic Grant Morrison Batman graphic novel Arkham Asylum and the recent Daredevil series, but we’re all for it. Now Goyer has offered us more information on the project.
