Genre: Action-Comic-Blockbuster
Premise: Superman’s Death is still the focal point. Brainiac is the new villain and destroyer of Krypton. Unable to cope with dual identities, Clark Kent almost has a breakdown. Brainiac unleashes Doomsday, who bleeds Krypton and fights Superman to the death. Superman journeys through the afterlife, and deciding his work on Earth isn’t quite over returns to his body. A now powerless Superman fights Braniac.
About: Gregory Poirier had previously worked with producer, Jon Peters, on Rosewood. It used a previous draft written by John Lemkin (21 Jump Street) and sequentially came right before Kevin Smith's draft. Allegedly, this script reached deadlock because Warners brass had creative differences. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that possibly the reason Poirier was dumped for Kevin Smith has to due with the script’s tone, which feels almost completely detached from the Superman atmosphere.
Writer: Gregory Poirier (at this point had written Death Riders, The Stranger, and Rosewood with Jon Voight, also Poirier had written a lot of films for the Adult Industry which included over 40 films for John T. Bone)
Imagine if The Dark Knight didn’t have any action scenes and the Joker wasn’t necessarily all that evil or involved in the plot. You end up with an Existential reflection on what it means to be a Superhero, and the perceived dangers of the occupation. You also end up with a protagonist who for all purposes is unhinged. And, also as one would expect you end up with a film that’s pretty removed from the Batman comics. This is the dilemma of Superman V: Reborn. It’s not really a Superman film. It’s far too heavy and angsty. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s not entirely a bad thing and it’s always a noble attempt to make a popcorn flick meaningful. But, this thing misses the entire point of Superman. He’s a guy who flies and blows stuff up. And that’s about it. And, if you’re going to capture the feel of the comic, making something entirely thematic and character driven may not be the best way to go.
Also, a sigh of relief because Braniac and Doomsday are better than Lex Luthor any day of the week. Of course, they’re not Magneto or The Joker. But they’re weird villains with demented purposes and they’re pretty damn evil. Oh, and they don’t occupy their time on the page like intelligent pricks who are always muttering about how intelligent they are. And while we’re on the subject, there’s a really strong theme here that I don’t think was done enough justice. In the style of Old Testament prophets driven from their homes, Superman comes a place to which he can no longer return and is offered the chance to confront the monster who destroyed his home. This idea alone could fuel a script, but Clark Kent wrestling with dual identities? That’s much less fascinating.
Or, we could look at Kevin Smith, whose quote I just discovered and which pretty much nails down exactly what I’ve been trying to say. “Superman’s angst is not that he doesn’t want to be Superman. If he has any (angst), it’s that he can’t do it all; he can’t do enough and save everyone... Batman is about angst; Superman is about hope.” Needless to say, when Smith was hired onto the project, he completely rewrote the script.
The other thing is, the script reads like a homage to every popular film of the last decade. Superman comes back from the afterlife a karate expert ala The Karate Kid, the aliens take over ala Independence Day, and there’s also a good deal of Batman references. I think ultimately what had happened is that Poirier had written a script without considering what the comic meant or what he was trying to capture. For the Warner Brother executives, this resulted in a script that didn’t have much of an action slant and was also a poor, overly sentimental portrayal of Superman.
Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)
[X] - Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)
Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)
Hot Rod (Good)
Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)
Daily Tip: Sometimes stories don’t have to be deep. Or, better said, sometimes in revealing a deeper level of emotion to a story what a writer really does is move the piece away from the perceived tone. For example, if you’re writing a Superman script which is about hope and the American Dream, it’s missing up the whole story by revealing a level of emotion about how Clark feels about his dual identities. Or, perhaps, this ties into the lesson that you shouldn’t try to fix something if it isn’t broken.
Isla Prospect: Lois Lane is almost a non-lead in this, so I won’t consider Isla.
Script Link: I have a copy of this. Email me if interested.
Premise: Superman’s Death is still the focal point. Brainiac is the new villain and destroyer of Krypton. Unable to cope with dual identities, Clark Kent almost has a breakdown. Brainiac unleashes Doomsday, who bleeds Krypton and fights Superman to the death. Superman journeys through the afterlife, and deciding his work on Earth isn’t quite over returns to his body. A now powerless Superman fights Braniac.
About: Gregory Poirier had previously worked with producer, Jon Peters, on Rosewood. It used a previous draft written by John Lemkin (21 Jump Street) and sequentially came right before Kevin Smith's draft. Allegedly, this script reached deadlock because Warners brass had creative differences. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that possibly the reason Poirier was dumped for Kevin Smith has to due with the script’s tone, which feels almost completely detached from the Superman atmosphere.
Writer: Gregory Poirier (at this point had written Death Riders, The Stranger, and Rosewood with Jon Voight, also Poirier had written a lot of films for the Adult Industry which included over 40 films for John T. Bone)
Imagine if The Dark Knight didn’t have any action scenes and the Joker wasn’t necessarily all that evil or involved in the plot. You end up with an Existential reflection on what it means to be a Superhero, and the perceived dangers of the occupation. You also end up with a protagonist who for all purposes is unhinged. And, also as one would expect you end up with a film that’s pretty removed from the Batman comics. This is the dilemma of Superman V: Reborn. It’s not really a Superman film. It’s far too heavy and angsty. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s not entirely a bad thing and it’s always a noble attempt to make a popcorn flick meaningful. But, this thing misses the entire point of Superman. He’s a guy who flies and blows stuff up. And that’s about it. And, if you’re going to capture the feel of the comic, making something entirely thematic and character driven may not be the best way to go.
Also, a sigh of relief because Braniac and Doomsday are better than Lex Luthor any day of the week. Of course, they’re not Magneto or The Joker. But they’re weird villains with demented purposes and they’re pretty damn evil. Oh, and they don’t occupy their time on the page like intelligent pricks who are always muttering about how intelligent they are. And while we’re on the subject, there’s a really strong theme here that I don’t think was done enough justice. In the style of Old Testament prophets driven from their homes, Superman comes a place to which he can no longer return and is offered the chance to confront the monster who destroyed his home. This idea alone could fuel a script, but Clark Kent wrestling with dual identities? That’s much less fascinating.
Or, we could look at Kevin Smith, whose quote I just discovered and which pretty much nails down exactly what I’ve been trying to say. “Superman’s angst is not that he doesn’t want to be Superman. If he has any (angst), it’s that he can’t do it all; he can’t do enough and save everyone... Batman is about angst; Superman is about hope.” Needless to say, when Smith was hired onto the project, he completely rewrote the script.
The other thing is, the script reads like a homage to every popular film of the last decade. Superman comes back from the afterlife a karate expert ala The Karate Kid, the aliens take over ala Independence Day, and there’s also a good deal of Batman references. I think ultimately what had happened is that Poirier had written a script without considering what the comic meant or what he was trying to capture. For the Warner Brother executives, this resulted in a script that didn’t have much of an action slant and was also a poor, overly sentimental portrayal of Superman.
Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)
[X] - Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)
Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)
Hot Rod (Good)
Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)
Daily Tip: Sometimes stories don’t have to be deep. Or, better said, sometimes in revealing a deeper level of emotion to a story what a writer really does is move the piece away from the perceived tone. For example, if you’re writing a Superman script which is about hope and the American Dream, it’s missing up the whole story by revealing a level of emotion about how Clark feels about his dual identities. Or, perhaps, this ties into the lesson that you shouldn’t try to fix something if it isn’t broken.
Isla Prospect: Lois Lane is almost a non-lead in this, so I won’t consider Isla.
Script Link: I have a copy of this. Email me if interested.
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