You'll believe a man can fly... Again. Superman Returns!

Yeah, I really did like that moment. It's as if he's saying "What? You've already said what you had to say."

 

Am I the only one bothered by the fact that Lois Lane is so young that Clark would've had to knock her up in high school for her to have a five-year-old kid now?

 

Lois was probably in her early thirties. It's not inconceivable (rimshot) for her to have had a son in her mid to late twenties.

 

That was one of my biggest problems with realism in SR. Lois is way to young for the role. I'm not believing that Superman has been gone for 5 years. Even Routh looks too young. And I am not a big fan of Bosworth playing the role of Lois Lane anyhow; bad casting on somebody's part.

 

Routh was the same age Reeve was in STM.

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Honestly, I think Kate does look pretty young... but better that than too old. I think they intentionally cast young people so they wouldn't get too old in the sequels *cough*Margo*cough*.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Christopher Reeve was 24 or 25 when he was cast as Superman. Brandon Routh was the same age. The only difference is that Reeve happened to pass for thirty. Routh is in between. Margot Kidder was about thirty when she was cast and Lois there was portrayed as such. Kate Bosworth was about 22 or so, when she was cast. Lois and Clark in the new film are supposed to be in their late twenties, but Singer wanted the actors to be young enough so that they don't age as noticably as Reeve and Kidder did. Also, it was Singer who wanted to audition Bosworth after watching "Beyond The Sea". Kevin Spacey had already worked with her and was on board to do Lex, when Spacey showed Singer the film. Singer arranged to have a meeting and a screentest. That's all it took.

 

Yep.

They do look young, but part of that is that it's really really uncommon in film for people to play older than they really are. But, as sinister and I both pointed out, they don't anyone looking old like Kidder.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Probably wouldn't matter how old Bosworth was, I don't think she has enough energy or spark to pull off Lois Lane. And I have to say it seems like some peoples idea of the perfect Superman Movie would involve Superman reciting poetry to Lois on top of the Daily Planet, then whisking her off to the Fortress of Solitude to talk about thier feelings.

 

What you mean like his masterpiece, "I Can Read Your Mind"?

Not at all. I would like to see more physical fights now. I would like to see more Clark. But I thought SR was very good. And when you consider what was being considered (Abrams, anyone? *shudder*), it seems like a miracle. But it's not just good by comparison. I think it's good but also it balanced my personal tastes well, so I liked it.

I didn't like Bosworth much at all at first. I've tried to give her that Lois would have changed because of being a mother. But also, I just don't care that much. As integral as Lois is to the Superman stories, she's never really been much of a full character. This Lois is slightly moreso than Kidder's, she just also more boring.

But really, Lois doesn't matter too much to me. Her role is really important in relationship to Supes and Clark, but she as a character isn't that important. She's more a symbol than a person (and no this isn't a 'let's objectify women' case. I am a woman. I just see Lois as a plot device more than a person).

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

I thought Bosworth did just fine. Though I would say the Kidder Lois was a bit more fun there is nothing really wrong with the Bosworth Lois.

 

I thought it was "Can you read my mind?"

 

Returns is a fine movie, because it's not overtly action packed. That's not what the story was when Singer first pitched it to Donner and then to WB. The story was about how Superman deals with his life, when he returns to it after five years away. When Donner came on to the first two films, one of his key goals was making sure that the love story worked. Everything else was easy to pull off, but this was the challenge. It's approach that Singer went with. Now that new status quo is set, Singer and crew can go forward and have more action, as well as develop the personal stories.

 

Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. It is much better to start from character and then grow into more exciting action pieces and villains than to start with a film that's flashy looking but soulless and then try to tack on meaning arbitrarily in the sequels. I'm very excited about the potential the new franchise has at this point in time.

Hers was. I figured this would be his poetic response to Lois's, er, inspired poetry

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

QFT! Character makes far better storytelling then action anyday, even for a superhero. Granted it can be taken too far in either extreme but the best examples of a happy medium start with character and story where everything is either a product of those or serves to advance those, not the other way around.

My bad. I think those lines will forever be burned into my memory, and not in a good way.

 

Does the Superman Franchise have a future? I keep reading stuff on other sites that Warner Brothers hasn't even OKed a sequel yet and that they don't have a script and are seriously considering doing a Justice League movie instead which they do have a script for.

 

the only thing I really did not like about returns, and this is minor, is that there really was not enough Clark Kent in the film.
Would of liked more of the Clark/Lois interaction, which worked so well in the Reeve films. Hopefully there will be more of that in the sequel. Routh Looked like Reeve a bit when he was Clark, which was weird the first time I saw it.

 

Spiderfan, I love STM, but damn. That poem makes my head ache That's just one of the biggest "what were they THINKING" moments in film.

There are rumours going around that when the Writers Guild meets in October and the Directors and Actors Guilds meet next summer to renegotiate their contracts with the studios, there could be a strike. Hence, studios are really antsy and not wanting to greenlight anything that will be filming past next June right now, because if they are in the middle of a production then, it could cost them tens of millions of dollars to pause for a strike.

This is likely a driving force behind why we haven't heard an official OK from Warners on the next film. They do have a Justice League script they like as well, but it's unlikely they're going to be greenlighting anything for a while.

If a strike does or doesn't happen, either way, it's likely that the target date of Summer 2009 for the next film might be hard to achieve. But that's not to say it won't happen at all. This really has nothing to do with the franchise and everything to do with the industry at the moment.

This is completely my gut and educated guess, but I'd say it's 80% sure we'll see SRII, and before a JL movie (though I'd love to see one of those shortly thereafter, especially because we'd have a well established Bats and Supes to work with).

I've asked a couple friends/mentors who are Guild members if they can give me any inside thoughts on whether a strike is really happening or not. If I hear anything, I'll let you know.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Bryan Singer is making the Tom Cruise WWII flick "Valykire" right now, while Dan Harris and Michael Doughtry (sp) are working on the script for "Man Of Steel". Brandon Routh will be hitting the gym in the fall for next year, according to Entertainment Weekly. A "Justice League" film won't hurt anything Singer has going. Though odds are it won't start filming until after "Man Of Steel". Also, one draft has been completed. There is the possibility of polishes and then working out the deal with casting, mainly for Superman and Batman.

 

Today is exactly one year for Supes. Seems like only yesterday.

 

Actually, it's been a really long year for me... but yeah, myself and some of my online Supes friends are celebrating over with an all day SR marathon on Saturday. We're watching simultaneously and posting. And I'm baking myself a cake Should be fun.

sinister, all of what you say is true. The only thing is, if there's a strike next summer, that will delay the filming of MOS. So it's possible that it could push the release date back, even to 2010

But a JL movie would almost certainly be after that anyway. I think that's a great idea. The thing is, there is a big casting deal because you pretty much have to convince Christian Bale AND Brandon Routh to do the movie for it to work at this point. I'm all for it.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

I'm in no rush for a sequel. They move too fast and they'll screw it up. SR is such a standalone film.

 

As do I. Its still in my mind the top comicbook film of all time, narrowly beating out Batman Begins, Spider-man 2 and X2: X-men United.

I would say the other biggest "what were they thinking" moment was the Salkind's getting rid of Donner. I know why, it just makes me scratch my head after seeing his completed verion of Superman II.

 

Yeah, that really doesn't make much sense, either.

Moleman, it's not that I want them to hurry up and get it done. It's just that the timetable they had was fine for a 2009 summer release, but that could be altered now, not for the sake of more creative work, but for business reasons, and that's a little frustrating.

But I got an e-mail back from my prof (who shall remain anonymous). This is what he had to say on the strike:

The rumors always fly when contracts are renegotiated. Each side talks tough, but nine times out of ten, the differences are settled and a new contract is approved by membership. It is always a trying time. And a couple of times, I have found myself walking a picket line.

Basically, he doesn't think it's likely to happen. He just thinks everyone's overreacting.

 

I'm actually more worried about Bryan Singer's "Valykire" delaying "The Man of Steel" then the possible writer's strike. Singer is having a lot a problems with the German government due to Tom Cruise and his scientology beliefs. Any delays with the shooting of that film could delay the filming of a Superman sequel.

 

Yeah I know. Although I've heard that there's never been an official ban placed and the momentum is shifting in Cruise's favour. You'd think Germany would learn from history that discriminating against people because you don't like their beliefs is a bad idea

Filming is supposed to start for that in mid-July. So as long as they can get that worked out before then, that part shouldn't be a problem. I just don't know when the MOS script will be done.


-sj loves kevin spacey