After seven years, Jeff Nichols returns this year with “The Bikeriders,” a motorcycle gang drama starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Nichols regular Michael Shannon, and Tom Hardy. And critics loved Nichols’ upcoming film at its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last weekend (read our review). But while at the festival, the director talked to the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast about more than just “The Bikeriders.” Nichols dished out a little bit of info on a big-budget project he was in talks to do once upon a time: the superhero movie “Aquaman” for the DCEU.
Movie fans already know that Nichols was once reported to be in the mix for the blockbuster, but it’s clear from this conversation that while he did have a pitch he gave to execs, it didn’t go very far. On the podcast, Nichols sounded very aware and amused with how totally different his version of the film would have been, especially compared to the epic, cartoony, and comedically colorful “Aquaman” that James Wan ended up making. “It would have been quite different from the film that was made!” he laughed. Wan’s “Aquaman” remains the highest-grossing film of the old DCEU, too, so Warner Bros. at least made the right calls with him there.
When asked what his pitch would be, Nichols suggested no one was interested in it almost from the jump. “Well, it was never even feasible,” he started. “I liked the older Aquaman, like when he had a harpoon for a hand. He was a fallen king, and his son had died, and he was in mourning.” But Warner Bros. wanted something a little spunkier than a mourning patriarch. “Obviously, from this brief pitch, you can [tell] that it would have sold hundreds of dollars in tickets,” he quipped self-deprecatingly.
Throughout his conversation on “Happy Sad Confused,” a running joke about Michael Shannon being in everything Nichols does (which Nichols agrees with) pops up continuously. But when the host joked that Shannon was the filmmaker’s first choice for Aquaman, Nichols clarified that he never had the actor in mind. In fact, the director said to dispel any rumor of that if it pops up. So who did Nichols have in mind as his superhero leading man? He isn’t telling, but then talks never got that far about his take on “Aquaman” in the first place.
Ultimately, it sounds like I.P. stuff like superhero movies is no longer anything Nichols wants a part of, despite also once toying with making an “A Quiet Place” spin-off (more on that soon). “[I.P.] doesn’t really interest me that much. That stuff is just fun to noodle on,” he said of playing and iterating with I.P. But he explained how he’s mostly moved on from that possibility. “And no one needs to beat this dead horse, but we’ve got a lot of those movies now. There’s a lot of stories in the world and it’s okay to spend some time telling other ones.”
And “The Bikeriders” is one of those stories. Hitting theaters on December 1, Nichols’ latest tackles the true story of the Vandals, in their heyday, one of the most notorious biker gangs in the American Midwest. Read The Playlist’s review of the film out of Telluride here. As for what Nichols has up next, well, it’s too early for him to tell, but based on his comments to “Happy Sad Confused,” don’t expect him making a superhero movie any time soon.
