Desperation: it is the name of the game for one Mr. Louis Leterrier. The blockbuster helmer, who’s got “Clash of the Titans” coming up, has not been afraid to talk himself up for the director’s chair of 2012’s biggest blockbuster, “The Avengers.” Leterrier directed “The Incredible Hulk” for Marvel and while there are no plans for another “Hulk” film, he’s been open about wanting to remain in the Marvel playground. In an interview with AICN recently, he may have confirmed that the interest is mutual.
“I am on the shortlist, but I’m at the bottom of the shortlist, I’m sure,” he tells AICN writer Beaks in an exclusive interview. “I don’t know who the other guys are, but I have a great relationship with [Marvel], and I’ve been very vocal to them and everyone else that I am the one to direct it. I loved my time at Marvel. I loved those guys. They’re fantastic. Kevin [Feige] is such a passionate boss; he gets his hands dirty. It’s a universe I want to keep exploring. I was frustrated with [THE INCREDIBLE HULK]. It was like, “That’s it? Only one superhero? Can I do more???” We’ll see. Time will tell.”
“Frustrated” with “The Incredible Hulk” is one way to put it. On the creative side, Marvel has to have been pleased that Leterrier, a director with then-minimal experience with blockbusters, was able to shoot a streamlined superhero crowd-pleaser without a lot of flair, per se, but simple enough to have a DVD and cable life its predecessor, Ang Lee‘s “Hulk,” was not built for. However, Leterrier sided with star Edward Norton when it came to a longer, more character-centric (and superior, judging by the DVD) cut versus the truncated, action-heavy version Marvel ultimately released, and it soured Norton enough that he didn’t seem likely to return to the role. Moreover, the film only did $263 million worldwide, while the hefty budget suggested a $300 worldwide take (still half of what “Iron Man” generated that summer) would have been a more comfortable result.
As a result, Marvel has found themselves pinching pennies after they squandered their initial studio-starting $525 million loan on “Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “The Incredible Hulk” and pre-production on “Thor” and “The First Avenger: Captain America.” It was Leterrier and Marvel’s vision that allowed them to jettison original plans to make a series of mid-and-big-budgeted Marvel films between $45 and $165 million, a gamble that has the studio once again borrowing in order to complete financing for “Thor,” “Cap” and “The Avengers.” In other words, “The Incredible Hulk” may be a valued catalog title for Universal Pictures, but the film is sort of a black eye for Marvel Studios. Though the financing is currently in place for “The Avengers,” the studio is not as confident as it once seemed.
However, Marvel might not exactly be able to resist the bankability of Leterrier’s vision if “Clash of the Titans” crosses $200 million domestic, which is a strong possibility considering the 3D prices. Speaking to MTV, Leterrier implies his pre-production for the film would involve getting the cast together to “workshop” the movie, which must be French for “improvise” since with the gang-written reputation of the first Marvel films and the “Avengers” with a likely glut of CGI effects suggests several actors won’t be given a real chance to showcase their considerable skills. We did a feature on potential “Avengers” directors, begrudgingly adding Leterrier as a possibility, but we still like our fantasy picks the best. And speaking of fantasy picks, since no one’s listening, Will Forte should be Hawkeye, just because.
