What we love about geeks is their relentless optimism for things that look bleak, doomed, or something they should just let go. This naive and blind positivity is akin to that “The Simpsons” episode when Homer chases the pig and it flies through, traffic, shit, garbage and mud and Homer keeps crying, “it’s still good! it’s still good! (for the record, we saw that scene on TV and did not sit through more than five minutes of that movie).
So now we take that guileless mien to the blogosphere today which is blowing up because “X-Men,” “X-2” and “Superman Returns” director Bryan Singer has opened his mouth and answered questions posed to him about both franchises. Bloggers and the geekosphere seem positively tickled and amped at the idea that Singer could revisit both ‘Superman’ or the ‘X-Men’ series in the form of “X-Men Origins: Magneto,” but his answers are clearly not looking fortuitous despite headlines that claim, “Bryan Singer Interested In Magneto!” [the report starts here]
In fact, his thoughts on “Magneto” do not look prosperous at all. While he is bummed out he didn’t get a chance to direct “X-Men 3” (there’s major baggage there) — “I’m eternally intertwined with X-Men now. What takes an audience four hours to watch – the first two movies – took six years of my life. So, to not be part of it….It’s a shame,” he sayss — he doesn’t sound entirely jazzed about revisiting the WWII-era origin of the Magneto character (played by Ian McKellen). Seriously, is there any real hope to get this film off the ground? We’ll eat our shoe if a Magneto movie ever hits the screen.
” ‘Apt Pupil,’ ‘X-Men’ and now ‘Valkyrie’…I’ve lived in that Nazi universe for quite a while. I just might need to take a little break before I do something like that,” is his answer. i.e., not anytime soon. And if “Magneto” were miraculously going to get off the ground, it would probably be in the next 2-3 years, i.e., would have to be Singer’s next picture. Not… going…to…happen.
As for “Superman Returns” how anyone sees this quote of any indication of anything remotely positive is mind boggling.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. There are still issues…I just…I just don’t know. I don’t necessarily…I don’t know. It’s one of those things where…It’s so weird talking about stuff unless I’m about to ramp up and shoot it.”
This is of course following a graph where Bryan says (paraphrased) that is it “unlikely” that he will ever revisit the character.
A little bit more frustrating is the fact that geek blogs don’t seem to have the recollection abilities to remember the contentious relationship between the “X-Men” producers 20th Century Fox and Bryan Singer. People seem to forget/remain ignorant to the fact Singer could not get the creative freedom he wanted (which means the right amount of prep time and money to realize the vision) for “X-Men: The Last Stand” and he left the project (and even passerbys had to have heard that relationships btwn Singer and the producers on ‘X1’ and ‘X2’ were not good, they finally broke the camel’s back on X-3 which is why he said, “fuck this” as much as he loved the project). His signing on to “Superman Returns” instead was seen as retaliation and Fox abruptly canceled his production company deal back in 2004. Fox still own ‘Magneto’ (and the rest of the X-Men franchise), so unless there is an incredible mea culpa/ come-to-Jesus, Singer will never direct another “X-Men” project again, or at least, not anytime soon.
And wait, how is it we understand this and geek sites don’t? Incredibly frustrating, but that’s the level of reporting and understanding for you. Then again, enough money in Hollywood does heal all wounds (and vague laurels of peace from the producers were recently made), but it’s still a little annoying when none of this stuff is touched upon at all. As for ‘Superman’ yes, it is incredibly unlikely that Singer will return. Warner Bros — who were clearly disappointed with the “Superman Returns” results — have other ideas too and have said so recently. What gives guys?