It’s just over six months since it was announced that Christopher Nolan would be shepherding a new “Superman” movie, and considering that Warner Bros have to be in production by 2012, or the rights will revert to the families of creator Jerry Siegel, it’s surprising there hasn’t been more forward momentum. Sure, there’s been the recurring rumor that Nolan’s brother Jonathan would direct the film, and various unconvincing casting rumors, but little else.
Well, that’s all changed tonight, as Deadline has reported that Nolan and partner/producer Emma Thomas have started to met with prospective helmers for the project, and it’s a somewhat surprising list, one without Jonathan Nolan anywhere near it. Veteran Tony Scott, “Let Me In” director Matt Reeves, Jonathan Liebesman, of the upcoming “Battle: Los Angeles,” “Moon” helmer Duncan Jones and Zack Snyder are all set to meet with Nolan about directing the high-profile film, and a decision is expected in the next few weeks.
We’ve got to say, we’re a little disappointed with the selection on hand. We named Jones as one of the five we thought could do it back in the day, and the word on Reeves’ “Let Me In” is strong, but the others all strike us as brainless action guys — Scott’s had his moments, but has long since descended into self-parody, Liebesman is something of an unknown quantity, but his alien invasion picture isn’t that enticing, and our already-monumental dislike for Snyder has only increased after his nonsensical owl picture “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’hoole.”
We reckon, perhaps over-optimistically, that these are, for the most part, favored names from the studio that Nolan is humoring by meeting — but having said that, the director is said to be a fan of Michael Bay movies, so you never know. As Deadline acknowledges, several of the names have other commitments — Liebesman, in particular, is set to helm “Clash of the Titans 2” for the studio, while Scott has a number of projects in the works. Of the five, we’d still put our money on Jones landing the gig — he seems closer to Nolan’s sensibilities than any of the others. We could live with Reeves, and the rest would be fairly upsetting, to say the least. That said, we’re sure there will be more names to come.