Comic Book to Movie Screen

[Heineken Skywalker]

From AIN'T IT COOL NEWS:

3 of the FANTASTIC FOUR have been cast!

"...according to the most reputable trade Variety, 20th Century Fox has cast THREE of its FOUR Fantasticos: Ioan Gruffudd ("Horatio Hornblower," 'King Arthur') will fill the elastipants of Reed Richards, Michael Chiklis (The Shield) will be everyone's ever-lovin,' blue-eyed Thing, and Chris Evans ('Not Another Teen Movie,' 'The Perfect Score,' 'Cellular') will be Johnny Storm. Still uncast is the role of Sue Richards, although supposedly, Jessica Alba (Dark Angel, 'Honey') is the lead contender. The other two frontrunners for the part are Keri Russel ('Felicity') and Rachel McAdams ('Mean Girls' and 'The Notebook')"

Hmm, other than Chiklis, this cast doesn't excite me.

[LivingDeadGirl]

I agree, it's cool to see Michael Chiklis in this movie.

[LivingDeadGirl]

"The songwriters are likely to be U2's Bono & The Edge."

Woo Hoo! ;D Now THAT would be cool.

[Heineken Skywalker]

From IMDB.Co,:

McG (née Joseph McGinty Nicol) has bowed out as director of Warner Bros.' upcoming Superman sequel, citing disagreement with the studio over budgetary roll-backs. Initially, plans called for the film to be shot in New York City, but when Warner Bros. accountants determined that filming in Australia could cut tens of millions of dollars from the costs, production was moved to Sydney. In a statement on Saturday, McG said, "As a filmmaker, I felt it was inappropriate to try to capture the heart of America on another continent."

Fine by me, I was not looking forward to SUPERMAN from the director of CHARLIE'S ANGELS!!

[ZapRowsdower]

Follow-up to McG's dropping out of Superman from CNN.com:

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- "X-Men" director Bryan Singer has signed on to shoot the next Superman movie, replacing "Charlie's Angels" veteran McG, who dropped out a week ago over such issues as budget and location.

By signing on, Singer puts his next two high-profile projects in a gray zone. He was scheduled to direct "Logan's Run," and then return for a third shot at the comic-book franchise that propelled his career into the realm of big-budget tentpoles: Fox has already scheduled "X-Men 3" for a May 5, 2006, release.

There is no scheduled start date for Superman which, like "Logan's Run," is in development at Warner Bros. (Warner Bros. is a division of Time Warner, as is CNN.)

The Superman movie's script is probably the most time-consuming element that will determine any production start. The previous script was written by "Alias" creator J.J. Abrams. Singer has a reputation for being very involved in the writing of his movies, as well as working with his own stable of writers.

Singer has long nursed a dream to direct a Superman movie.

"My interest in Superman dates back many, many years," he 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."

Singer's other credits include "Apt Pupil" and "The Usual Suspects."

Besides McG, directors Tim Burton and Brett Ratner have also been involved with the resurrection of Warners' once-profitable franchise. The primary reason given for the exit of McG, ne Joseph McGinty Nichol, was the inability to agree on a budget, which reportedly hovers around $200 million, similar to what "Spider-Man 2" cost. Casting also was an issue, as was the shooting location. McG favored a New York shoot, while the studio favored Australia.

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I didn't have anything against McG (I rather ENJOYED the Charlie's Angels movies), but when you put Usual Suspects/X-Men/X2 director Brian Singer at the helm...

THE SMITTY MOST DEFINITELY APPROVES.

[Unbend5440]

Superman: The Movie is not only my favorite comic book adaptation ever, it's also in my top 10 favorites movies ever. I can't say that I've been all that into a new movie. If you can't top Donner's original, I see no point. However, if it is going to be made, I'm just glad it's not with McG. I seriously doubt he could've brought the drama of Superman's story. It would've likely turned into the campy movie that Richard Donner avoided back in the 70s. Bryan Singer gives me a little more confidence. My only complaint is that, in my opinion, Superman will never be topped, and the only thing that has come close is X-Men and X2. Without Bryan Singer involved in X-Men, I'm not sure that will be worth watching. In a perfect world Bryan Singer would direct both Superman and X-Men.

I also heard that McG wanted to film in New York, which I also disagree with. If you're going to make a fictional city like Metropolis, it needs to look unique. New York has been filmed so many times in so many movies that no matter what you're looking at, you can tell it's New York. I hope that the location for Metropolis will be a city that has rarely been filmed before. Just one of my many outrageous demands about a new Superman movie.

[ZapRowsdower]

Besides that, is it just me, or does Sydney look more like Metropolis than New York City?

Still a mystery, who's going to play Superman?

In other news: Catwoman (2004) sucked. Oh, wait. That's not news, is it? Check out my review on the New Release Poll 7/23 thread.

[Unbend5440]

I haven't seen Catwoman yet, but from everything I've heard it sounds like the biggest disaster since Rollerball.

For the casting of Superman, I still think it needs to be an unknown actor. I'm thankful that every director attached, besides Tim Burton, has shared the same opinion. However I did read that one of the reasons Brett Ratner dropped out was because the studio didn't agree with him about casting an unknown.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Jim Caviezel is the latest actor to be rumoured to be up for the part.
The Passion of the Kryptonian! ;D
Actually, I don't think he'd be too bad. He's not an unknown, but he's not exactly a household name either. He's a good actor and physically he could look the part.

[ZapRowsdower]

Jim Caviezel, eh?

THE SMITTY APPROVES.

[Heineken Skywalker]

IamTheSmitty said:

Jim Caviezel, eh?

THE SMITTY APPROVES.

Of course with the way they're going through directors and possible actors on this project I wouldn't get too excited just yet.

So far SUPERMAN has been almost directed by Tim Burton, Brett Ratner, McG and now Bryan Singer.
It has almost starred, or at least people that were rumoured to be up for the part, Nicholas Cage, Jude Law, Josh Hartnett, Christian Bale, Johnny Depp, Jim Caviezel and almost anyone else they thought might look decent in blue and red tights.

I still say they should've just waited until the TV series, "SMALLVILLE" ends its run in a couple of years and then take the cast of that show and put them on the big screen. They would already have a built-in fanbase, people are already familiar with those actors in those roles and you wouldn't have to tell Kal-El's backstory once again as the show is already developing its own mythology. Why they feel the need to create a new series of movies that conflicts with a popular tv series on the same subject is beyond me.
Who's running WB? Trained monkeys??

[ZapRowsdower]

At least it's better than that rumor about Joe Millionaire playing Superman.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that guy. That was one of the stranger casting rumours.

In other Comic Book to Film news:
From Empire Online, a director has been confirmed for the "Watchmen" adaptation:

Darren Aronofsky, who has been linked with the project for some time, has now been officially confirmed as the man to bring the Alan Moore series to the screen.
Both Terry Gilliam and writer David Hayter have tried the director's seat out for size in the past but it's now fallen to the Requiem for a Dream director who, to be fair, has been expressing an interest in the property for the last five years.
The only question now is can he possibly pull it off? The 12-part series is about as involved as it gets and not the kind of thing that could easily be squeezed into a six-hour miniseries, let alone a two hour film."

That reminds me. I still need to read that.

[Unbend5440]

I know that Sam Hamm wrote a script for The Watchmen years ago. He did an amazing job with the Batman script, and I still think it's a shame that his Batman Returns script was re-written. I know I found Hamm's Watchmen script online a while back, and it was pretty good. Aronofsky is a good fit for Watchmen as director. Maybe he can revive Hamm's script.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Well, here ya go. The first publicity pic of Christian Bale as Batman for the upcoming BATMAN BEGINS. Still not crazy about that title, but I think the costume looks good. Bale looks pretty bad-ass as Batman.

members.rogers.com/merlin42/bale.jpg