Genre: Action-Comic Book Adaptation-BlockbusterPremise: Doomsday kills Superman, after Brainiac blocks out the sun to make Superman powerless. Brainiac pairs up with Lex Luthor while elsewhere Superman is brought to life by The Eradicator, a Kryptonian Robot. Brainiac wants to destroy both The Eradicator and Superman. Stripped of his powers, Superman is placed in armor built b y the Eradicator and defeats Braniac.
About: Smith was hired on, from his guess due to his myriad comic book references in his films. He clashed frequently with Producer Jon Peters (Superman was Peters’ pet project) as Peters requested Smith to include fights with giant spiders and polar bears. Soon after Smith completed the script, Tim Burton was hired onto the project. Burton’s first act was to trash Smith’s script and hire on an entirely new team of writers. To this day, Kevin Smith signs copies of this script “F$#@ Tim Burton”. (On a side note, Smith’s casting choices would have been Ben Affleck as Sup, Linda Fiorentino as Lois, Jack Nicholson as Lex, David Hyde Pierce as The Eradicator, Jason Lee as Brainiac)
Writer: Kevin Smith (after Clerks and Mall Rats, Circa chasing Amy’s release)
I’ve been reviewing my favorite scripts of the week on Friday lately. From what I can tell, Smith’s Superman script is what jump started attempts to make the film and ultimately what brought Burton onto the project. And, compared to the drivel I remember seeing in 2006 (which followed Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey so methodically, it was like watching a drunk man crawl along his kitchen floor) it’s a shame that this film didn’t end up being made. Now of course it’s high budget. Very high. And it would’ve needed a lot of money to be done successfully. And, I know there are complaints among the fan boys of cheesiness (and it is true Smith has Superman say “Up, up and away” at one point). But this is to be funny. There’s one brilliant element to this script that none of the others I’ve reviewed capture: Smith’s Superman Lives has depth and interesting characters (which Alex Ford’s laced) and it is still fun and good hearted like a Superman movie (which the script I reviewed yesterday missed).
Superman is stripped of his powers in this script. And unlike when this happens in other films, it doesn’t feel unoriginal or like I’m not watching a Superman film anymore. And the mere trick to that is that Superman remains committed to his goal of defeating Brainiac, and being committed to his goal. Smith also nails Superman’s trial in this correct: it’s not over dual identities, but that rather Superman is almost addicted to altruistic duties and protecting the citizens of Earth. For good or for bad. (Which leads to a cheesy line where Superman points to his head “Not here”, then to his heart “It’s here…one hopes this would have been cut out in a rewrite).
The only flaw that Smith makes is perhaps jumping a little too quickly into the world of Superman. There’s not enough origin related info. And as someone who is coming to the film cold, that’d be immensely appreciate. Why not a short bit on how Brainiac came to be? That’d prevent this script from feeling like we’ve been quickly thrown into Superman’s world. But, Lex Luthor is depicted very well in this. I still don’t like him. But Lex is depicted as the power hungry monger he is, and his fights with Brainiac are great because Lex is revealed as advanced as he possibly could be on Earth but drastically behind the progress of Brainiac. And, the other thing is that Batman also has a cameo in this. But I wasn’t a huge fan of Batman’s speech, and while the mood and atmosphere while filmed could have emphasized the Bat’s tone, I like to think that there would have been better ways to reveal Batman. Also, for what it’s worth I’d like to think it would be possible to have more Justice League cameos in this film even if they were just brief glimpses at the characters. So besides being too fan boy, I have no idea what Burton would have seen in this script to hate it and need it rewritten so severely, unless Burton was keen on making the project entirely his own.
It’s sad that Superman wasn’t filmed. But, it’s exciting that Smith has written a script for Green Hornet which from my understanding is about to be released as a Comic. I’m going to pick that up, and hopefully dive far into the reaches of the DC Universe.
Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)
[X] - Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)
Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)
Hot Rod (Good)
Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)
Daily Tip: Characters can best be developed in relationship to one another. Superman is perfect until we start to consider his relationship with Lois Lane and all the shortcomings he regards to the rest of Earth’s inhabitants. Luthor is immensely developed until he looks far behind in relationship to Brainiac. The Eradicator is just a robot until he sacrifices himself for Superman. Character is defined by action, and by revealing the way others respond to action, you can craft some great characters.
Isla Prospect: This is the best Lois role yet, and if I was to cast Isla in any Lois role this’d be it. She’s sarcastic, emotionally conflicted, and has a not subservient to Superman role.
Script Link: All over the net. Just Google.
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