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Superman Returns - pre-release discussion

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15:08 / 02.03.05

>> 1. Superman returns to smallville learning that his father is now dead. That's right folks, the twist is that his father died during the duration he left earth. This realization causes a flashback to him as a child as he looks at his treehouse which says "Fortress of Solitude"

This part MUST be fake, since Singer has reinforced the idea in interviews that he is honoring the continuity of the first 2 movies and Pa Kent died in Superman I.

15:16 / 02.03.05

So if that part is fake (and it seems to be), how accurate is the rest of the report?

15:29 / 02.03.05

Good question -- plus, I really like the idea of Kevin Bacon as Metallo/John Corben (as mentioned in an earlier rumor) and do want to see this on the screen!

17:12 / 02.03.05

Well, honoring the spirit of the earlier movies isn't exactly the same as being faithful to continuity. I mean, do we seriously expect Singer to make Superman 6? I'm not sure I do.

Also, Pa Kent dying makes some sense in terms of thematic and narrative logic.
Supes is questioning where his allegiances lie - his identity. Is he a Kryptionian or an Earthling? In this context Jonathon's death would serve to rachet up the dramatic tension - now Kal-El's got one less thing to tie him to Earth.

Imagine Superman having an identity crisis at the same time as 300 kryptonians set their sights on the Sol system.

Works for me.

I suppose I'm just illustrating what I like about the summary, and by doing so pointing out its dramatic strengths. The difference between most bullshit rumours and the real deal is the quality of the writing. What we have here at least looks like a Hollywood scribe could've penned it.

18:01 / 02.03.05

I don't think Singer would ignore/rewrite a major plot point of the 2 movies he reveres so much. I could be wrong, though.

The Natural Way

16:51 / 13.03.05

Yes, but yr failing to address a very cogent line of argument, and having an abiding love of Superman films and keeping true to the spirit of them does not necessarily equal cowtowing to every plot point.

The Natural Way

16:56 / 13.03.05

And on the identity thing, the Kryptonian stuff makes for a great way to re-kick-start the Superman movies. Who is Supes? Where's he from? What's his relationship to Earth and Earthlings
?

14:17 / 17.03.05

Apparently there are rumors that Supes might don the black costume he briefly wore when he returned from the dead - although don't worry, he ain't dyin' in this movie.

D Terminator XXXIII

14:26 / 17.03.05

Um, black is the new blue?

So, apparently we have the 3 top iconic characters at DC greenlit. Not long before the successes mandate second tier characters fighting like mad to appear onscreen.

I look forward to 2007 - the highlight movie of the year will be G'nort: Furry High Octane, I tell you, I Båmbling.

14:44 / 17.03.05

yeah, it is weird having potentially really good versions of DC's Holy Trinity on the big screen all roughly at the same time.

And Supes' wearing the black costume would only be brief in the movie, a la Luke Skywalker in Hoth battle gear, he's wearing the traditional togs for most of it, so the rumor goes...

13:43 / 18.03.05

Parker Posey just joined the cast as a henchperson to Luthor (a la her role in BLADE, perhaps...that role may have helped push studio execs into casting her in this). There were online rumors that she was playing Miss Tessmacher from the first films, but those were quashed.

15:19 / 05.04.05

from Newsarama:

I'm glad about this; I thought Laurie was an odd choice for Perry White...

--------

LANGELLA IS NOW PERRY WHITE

According to numerous sources, Hugh (House md) Laurie is out as Superman Returns’ Perry White due to his Fox television series being picked up for a second season, which begins in August. Given that Superman director Bryan Singer is producer of House, it’s understandable that there were no hard feelings.

Moving in to the editor’s chair will be Frank Langella. Laurie had not filmed any scenes for Superman.

Brigade du jour

21:37 / 05.04.05

Cool. First rule of Hollywood cinema - if you can play Dracula, you can play Skeletor. Second rule - if you can play Skeletor, you can play Perry White.

17:49 / 11.04.05

rumored S insignia from the movie will be the slightly-tweaked version from Jim Lee's current run on Superman:

http://www.development-hell.com/news_detail.php?idnews=88

18:40 / 11.04.05

I don't like it. The edges of the pentagon are sharp; the outline is too thin for me. The S is too informal for me... like using Comic Sans instead of a good Helvetica or something. I should like to see more variations before I choose, thank you.

How in god's name are they going to reconcile a spandex leotard for this film? We're talking Kansas, people. Don't boys who wear skintight pajamas get tied to fenceposts and have their heads kicked in there?

Brigade du jour

16:09 / 14.04.05

Not if they're more powerful than a locomotive, they don't.

17:46 / 14.04.05

Buh Dum DUM. Chshshshshsh!

Brigade du jour

13:14 / 15.04.05

Sorry Chad, couldn't resist it!

Has anyone else been watching these little two-minute 'making of' featurettes at bluetights.net? Basically it's Bryan Singer and various members of his crew on the set in Australia, with lots of juicy footage of locations and stuff. I should warn you though, if you want to watch the movie as 'site unseen' as possible when it comes out, steer well clear of them!

The main reason I brought it up, though, is that it reminds me of when Singer and co. were making the first X-Men movie. I remember reading in magazines at the time that they were encouraging feedback from the fan(boy)s on the little scraps of plot and character detail that escaped Fox's mighty net of secrecy. The upshot of all this was that the film was effectively 'proof-read' by its core audience before it was even finished.

I think there is a very forward-looking and reformist film-making attitude at work here, and one that seems to undermine the prevalence of auteur theory in contemporary cinema. Any thoughts?

03:08 / 17.04.05

Who's seen the new set pic of Routh? All I have to say is, WOW.

12:19 / 17.04.05

Lois looks good, but that's cause she's Kate. Am I missing something?

13:49 / 18.04.05

Routh looks great as Clark - man, he looks a LOT like Christopher Reeve (at the age Reeve was when he did the first movies). This looks very promising indeed.

I feel like Kate Bosworth has kind of a baby face (she looks like she's 17, big forehead and all), but I'm sure she'll be ok.

13:50 / 18.04.05

And of course, the internet will explode and any comic-related sites will practically shut down for hours when the first pic of Brandon Routh in the Superman costume gets out...

16:45 / 18.04.05

man, he looks a LOT like Christopher Reeve (at the age Reeve was when he did the first movies).

That's what surprised me the most... Singer is really trying to hark back to those movies, isn't he. Glad he made Lois a lot hotter, though. Margo Kidder never looked quite right with Superman.

17:03 / 21.04.05

recently read a Wizard article on this and Singer implied that Spacey's role as Luthor would be pretty smallish - small enough so that Spacey could fit the shoots in between all his other commitments (he's now artistic director of the famous Old Vic theater in London and is directing & acting in shows there as well). So maybe Luthor isn't really the main baddie of this movie, more like someone who says "See, I told you he was a bum!" when SUPERMAN RETURNS from space.

17:41 / 21.04.05

More pics of Routh, sourced at bluetights.net:

link

link

17:57 / 21.04.05

I love that shot of him going for the phone booth.

11:34 / 22.04.05

The first pic of Routh as Superman is out... where is my supersuit?

I like it only I think the S is too small and the little belt S is too much... but other than that it looks great.

15:28 / 22.04.05

The first thing I thought to do when seeing this was to see how it's being taken over at the Byrne forum. Not well, as you can imagine. And the speedo-y trunks are fanning the flames of the "OMG i heard singer is maeking superman a GAY!!!" crowd.

Anyway, it's a little bit of a disappointment. It's not bad though. The material is nice and very formfitting. But still, the little S, weird S belt, dark boots, no plunging neckline, and the low-rise trunks all look just a little bit off. It's certainly not the travesty people are complaining about already, but I didn't get the charge out of it I thought I would.

17:23 / 22.04.05

I do agree that the chest S is too small and the belt S is lame, but I hated the Spiderman and the X-Men suits when I first saw them online, but once I saw the actual movie they looked awesome. So I’m saying wait til you see this in action, flying around, catching planes, fighting.

17:53 / 22.04.05

The chest icon reminds me of the original, actually. I'm not a big fan of the raised, separate-from-the-shirt nature is a good thing, but that's probably just because it brings to mind 'Mystery Men' and Cappie Amazing tapping his chest, accompanied by hollow sound.
I wanna see a picture of him lifting a car overhead, slightly angled - then I'll decide if it's Super-quality or not.

20:17 / 22.04.05

Much better Photoshopped tweak of the costume at:

http://img212.echo.cx/img212/550/supermanthemovie0jb.jpg

23:37 / 22.04.05

am i the only one who thinks this looks awful? he looks like a kid dressed up for Halloween, for chrissakes.

23:55 / 22.04.05

You're not alone, diz. The shield's too small and his shoulders look more Superboy than Superman.

Aren't the Alex Ross portrayals usually of a barrel-chested titan?

Haus of Mystery

23:57 / 22.04.05

Dude has chunky thighs.

00:07 / 23.04.05

i agree on the shield, but the more i look at it, the more i think that the place where it fails most spectacularly is the color palette. the yellow and the red are waaay too dull.

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