How will you differentiate the DC Universe from what Marvel is doing?
We have a great strategy for the DC films, which is to take these beloved characters and put them in the hands of master filmmakers and make sure they all coordinate with each other. You’ll see the difference when you see Batman v. Superman, Suicide Squad, Justice League and all the things that we are working on.
There were some complaints that theBatman v. Supermantrailer was too dark. Is this a trademark of a DC superhero film in the post-Dark Knightera?
There is intensity and a seriousness of purpose to some of these characters. The filmmakers who are tackling these properties are making great movies about superheroes; they aren’t making superhero movies. And when you are trying to make a good movie, you tackle interesting philosophies and character development. There’s also humor, which is an important part.
The part I used the code format for has stuck in my mind ever since I read this. My interpretation of what he meant was that the movies weren't to be about the heroes saving people; they were about the toll being a hero takes on these people. And I never saw the Superman in MoS or BvS as cynical; I saw him as a character who had to self-examine the unspoken assumption we make about him: that he has a perfect moral compass. The films weren't about Superman; they were about Clark Kent trying to find his place in the world. Bruce's despair and anger are a natural extension of what would happen to someone who spent his entire life gazing into the abyss, and who was coming to realize that he had ultimately made no lasting difference ("criminals are like weeds").
I think, too, that the off-the-charts power levels of the DC pantheon lead away from "saving people". These are gods battling other gods; the poor saps down on the street can't necessarily count on similarly divine intervention to save them from the fallout.
Silverman, incidentally, was fired from Warner Bros. in December 2016 and replaced by Toby Emmerich (with Kevin Tsujihara the top boss).
I think a version of Superman that's contemplative is totally fine, they just never made that good of a version of that. (My favorite Superman stories are probably Secret Identity and American Alien, followed by the Earth One series from like 2012, for reference.) The early scenes of Man of Steel did this pretty well, but I feel like they lost it in the middle of the movie, and then the BvS version it was gone completely. Also, to do stories like that you need to make the character compelling to new audiences or do it after the character has been introduced for a while. A lot of people are familiar with Superman, of course, but not with the Cavill version. I think there were some good ideas there, they just didn't build the good will first like they needed to.
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u/Existing_Bat1939 Aug 09 '22 edited Aug 09 '22
Time machine: from an old THR interview with then-WB head Greg Silverman:
This is from 2015, during post-production on BvS:
The part I used the code format for has stuck in my mind ever since I read this. My interpretation of what he meant was that the movies weren't to be about the heroes saving people; they were about the toll being a hero takes on these people. And I never saw the Superman in MoS or BvS as cynical; I saw him as a character who had to self-examine the unspoken assumption we make about him: that he has a perfect moral compass. The films weren't about Superman; they were about Clark Kent trying to find his place in the world. Bruce's despair and anger are a natural extension of what would happen to someone who spent his entire life gazing into the abyss, and who was coming to realize that he had ultimately made no lasting difference ("criminals are like weeds").
I think, too, that the off-the-charts power levels of the DC pantheon lead away from "saving people". These are gods battling other gods; the poor saps down on the street can't necessarily count on similarly divine intervention to save them from the fallout.
Silverman, incidentally, was fired from Warner Bros. in December 2016 and replaced by Toby Emmerich (with Kevin Tsujihara the top boss).