Finally, something from the horse’s mouth. Weeks ago, it was reported that director Christopher Nolan was signing on to godfather the next iteration of the “Superman” franchise” on top of forging ahead with a third “Batman” film.
However the brakes on that story were put on momentarily when D.C. Entertainment President Diane Nelson denied the reports as nothing but a “rumor.” As we assumed even back then, it appears that Nelson was just annoyed that D.C. themselves weren’t able to make the initial announcement, because Nolan has spoken to the L.A. Times, and there’s no question from his comments that he’s on board. Maybe at the time he and D.C. hadn’t hammered out an agreement, but the director seems to already have more than a vision for where the film should go.
“It’s very exciting, we have a fantastic story,” Nolan said. “And we feel we can do it right. We know the milieu, if you will, we know the genre and how to get it done right.”
As for the reports (Latino Review) that said Brainiac would be one of the main villains (along with Lex Luthor) and the picture would be called, “The Man Of Steel”? Nolan laughed those reports off. “I don’t know where this stuff comes from,” he said (though the L.A. Times says he could be bluffing). The LAT notes, however, that “Superman” rebooted by Nolan is a ways away and is looking like a 2012 or 2013 project.
Nolan says his Superman take will be similar to the “The Dark Knight” story. Don’t look for crossing-over super heroes or villains (thank god).
“A lot of people have approached Superman in a lot of different ways. I only know the way that has worked for us that’s what I know how to do,” Nolan said, emphasizing the idea that Batman exists in a world where he is the only superhero and a similar approach to the Man of Steel would assure the integrity needed for the film. “Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other.”
Interestingly enough it was David S. Goyer, one of the co-writers of “The Dark Knight” who suggested the Superman concept/approach to Nolan after he was distracted and frustrated about which direction to take the next Batman film in.
“He basically told me, ‘I have this thought about how you would approach Superman,’” Nolan recalled. “I immediately got it, loved it and thought: That is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way.”
Goyer is apparently writing the screenplay now, but expect details on this one to be as air-lock security tight as “Inception” has been thus far (a few key leaks aside). Nolan gives some pretty excellent casting ideas though and essentially is putting name actors in small, but key parts (not unlike what he has already done in his ‘Batman’ series so far).
“I went to the studio with the analogy of ‘I want to cast the way they did in 1978 with ‘Superman’, where they had Brando and Glenn Ford and Ned Beatty and all these fantastic actors in even small parts, which was an exotic idea for a superhero movie at the time. It really paid off, too., As a kid watching ‘Superman’ it seemed enormous and I realized later by looking at it that a lot of that was actually the casting, just having these incredibly talented people and these characterizations. And Marlon Brando is the first guy up playing Superman’s dad. It’s incredible.”
Nolan knows how to sidestep key prying questions though.
Asked if Superman as a franchise has to overcome a deficiency of truly great villains, unlike, say, Spider-Man and Batman, he won’t bite. “That’s a very sly way of asking a question I’m not going to answer.”
As for the third Batman film, while it is moving forward, Nolan did note that so far, he is not officially on board to direct the picture. Presumably he will work on the story with Goyer and if it turns out to be something he wants to do, he’ll jump on it, but it seems he’s taking a wait and see approach. However Jonathan Nolan is “now doing the hard work” of writing the ‘Batman 3’ script based on the story by Goyer. “My brother is writing a script for me and we’ll wait to see how it turns out…he’s struggling to put it together into the epic story that you want it to be.”
So where is that story going?
“Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third film an great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story,” he said. “And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story. We have a great ensemble, that’s one of the attractions of doing another film, since we’ve been having a great time for years.”
Nolan won’t say which villian is next but notes “It won’t be Mr. Freeze.”
“I’m very excited about the end of the film, the conclusion, and what we’ve done with the characters. My brother has come up with some pretty exciting stuff. Unlike the comics, these thing don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling. And it hearkens back to that priority of trying to find the reality in these fantastic stories. That’s what we do.”
We’ll admit, it all does sound rather exciting. We’re glad that Nolan is eyeing the third Batman film as a final chapter (at least as far as he’s involved). It’s an interesting move that runs counter to the Marvel idea of a forever expanding and linked universe of characters. As for D.C., it gives them the option to revitalize the franchise every so often with new talent for a new generation.
