Your Dream Superman Movie?

[JulianPerez]

If someone was to produce your dream Superman movie, what would it be about, how would it be done, and who would do it?

Here's the plot of my dream Superman movie, in short:

The story would be a combination of the first appearance of Brainiac with the first appearance of the Brainiac/Luthor Team, and The Man Who Stole the Sun.

It would be filmed entirely in bluescreen with the background and city added later, a la SIN CITY or SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW.

The hair and clothing would be "retro," in forties or fifties clothing, with the historical period clearly pre-modern in some nebulous Flash Gordon gray area that is a cross between the world wars and ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION covers. The art direction would be futuristic and 1939 World's Fair style; cars have fins on them and Lois wears a skirt and stockings.

The exact plot of it would be something like this: Superman, already established as being an important superhero, when their space plane is captured by Brainiac and he begins shrinking the cities to tiny size. Brainiac appears to be a very strange green man from an alien world. Superman is powerless to break Brainiac's forcefield, but a cryptic clue from the Legion of Super-Heroes urges him to try a different tactic. Superman sneaks aboard his ship by being micronized, and discovers Kandor, the City in the Bottle. Restored to normal size, he beats Brainiac and takes him to space prison, helpless to restore Kandor to normal. Act II begins with Luthor, seeing Brainiac's defeat by a spy-eye, discovers he is a computer machine, and rescues him to allow the two to destroy Superman together. The both of them send monsters to collect a Superman power removing formula, which includes an agreement found only in Atlantis (for instance), and they even brazenly attack a creature only found in Superman's Mythological Zoo. Luthor and Brainiac backstab each other just as is found in the original story. Then, the both of them black out the sun as in "The Man Who Stole the Sun," with Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen sneaking on their rocketship. To test and see if the weapon would be effective on living tissue, however, the two crooks use their latest weapon on Olsen... Using Lois and Jimmy as bait, the two criminals lure Superman into a trap, with their latest invention that had been overshadowed all movie: Red Kryptonite, which steals his power and changes him into some minor form (snail, toad, whatever).

Things get worse when Brainiac finally betrays Luthor and boosts himself to 12th Level Intelligence. He reveals his plan: he will convert the earth to data information, effectively "destroying" the earth. Here, he uploads himself to the "machine" Brainiac from the 1980s. Luthor gets second thoughts and an attack of conscience, and he successfully saves Superman in time to let him stop Brainiac, with help from millions of tiny Kandorians made Superpowered in earth's sun. Leaving one loose end: Jimmy Olsen, who has been transformed into a giant turtle boy...

We'd also get some flashbacks through the movie of Lex Luthor's tragic misanthropic youth, being feared and misunderstood, to make him a more sympathetic character.

Anyway, that's just an example of the SORT of story I'd like to see - really, it ought to be something much better.

As for our dream production crew, how about this:

Director = Kerry Conran (SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW)
Writer = Brad Bird (THE INCREDIBLES), possibly Elliot S. Maggin, who has written film

As you can see, only geeks allowed! As for the cast:

Superman = Billy Zane, maybe Tuc Watkins (THE MUMMY)
Lois Lane = Parker Posey, Rena Sofer, maybe Lena Headey
Jimmy Olsen = Jason Marsden ("Eerie, Indiana")
Perry White = Brian Cox (THE BOURNE IDENTITY)
Lex Luthor = Joaquin Pheonix (GLADIATOR)
Brainiac = Angus Macfadyen (BRAVEHEART)

Joaquin Pheonix is a strange choice for Luthor, until one considers that my dream Superman movie would have him be the Maggin Luthor, who is a powerful villain because he is sympathetic and misanthropic, and Pheonix has a wonderful "wounded" quality about him, a tremendous ability to show remorse.

[King Krypton]

Lord Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman - Tyrone Power
Lois Lane - Linda Darnell
Perry White - John Hamilton
Jimmy Olsen - Ron Howard (circa Happy Days)
Lord Jor-El - Charlton Heston (circa Ben-Hur)
Lara Lor-Van - Olivia DeHavilland
Jonathan Kent - Tom Selleck
Martha Kent - Diane Keaton
Lana Lang - Ann-Margret (circa Viva Las Vegas)
Kara In-Ze/Supergirl - Elisabeth Harnois
John Henry Irons/Steel – Brock Peters (circa To Kill a Mockingbird)
Lex Luthor - Yul Brynner
Brainiac - Vincent Price
General Dru-Zod - Basil Rathbone
Parasite - Woody Harrelson
Metallo - Malcolm McDowell (circa A Clockwork Orange)
Manchester Black - Ewan McGregor
Prometheus - Alan Rickman
Darkseid - Ving Rhames
Bizarro - Rock Hudson (circa Pillow Talk)
Ugly Bruno Mannheim - Treat Williams
Morgan Edge - James Spader
Mongul - André the Giant
Lobo - Macho Man Randy Savage
Magog (from Kingdom Come) - Ron Perlman

Director/co-screenwriter – Nicholas Meyer
Co-screenwriter – Matt Wagner
Producer – David O. Selznick
Music – Jerry Goldsmith
Creative consultants – Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Director of photography – James Wong Howe
Editor – Paul Hirsch
Costume designers – Milo Anderson and Edith Head
Production designer – Anthony Pratt
FX – Weta Ltd.
Character makeup – Doug Drexler and John Caglione Jr.
Stunt coordinator – R.A. Rondell
Concept artists – Steve Rude, Ed McGuinness, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Doug Mahnke

In retrospect, seeing the virulent attacks on Superman Returns based on completely stupid reasons, I don't imagine this movie would fare any better. So I guess it's best that it's just an impossible fantasy.

[TELLE]

Julian, I liked your set-up, especially the part about skirts and stockings!  I got thinking about this part for quite a while and when I came to, I found I was reading somebody's fan-fic! :wink:

Having just sat through most of Hal Hartley's extre,ely "arty" Possible Films dvd, including about 15 minutes of Parker Posey repeating the same line while the director repeatedly sets up the shot, I'm a little tired of her right now.  I never thought I'd say that!

An Earth-2/Golden Age Superman movie, with the aesthetic you describe, would also be fun for me.  No floating/flying, just leaping.

[llozymandias]

Actually not a movie, but 3 interconnected mega mini-series.  One about the golden-age version.  The second about the silver-age version.  The third about the current version.

[JulianPerez]

Hmmm, good casting, King Krypton. Though why do you think Elizabeth Harnois would make a good Supergirl? She LOOKS like Supergirl, but lacks her innocent quality; there are lots of good looking blonde women in Hollywood and no disrespect meant to her, but she's one of them.

Linda Darnell - absolutely, absolutely brilliant casting here.

Ving Rhames as Darkseid sounds fascinating. He has such intelligence and dignity, uncommon in a big guy. Someone once suggested Howie Long for Doc Savage and that was the first but not the last time I wished you could slap someone through the internet.

And I'm all in favor of any Brat-packer - especially a talent like Jimmy Spader. LESS THAN ZERO showed possibly one of the greatest celebrity deathmatches of all time, on the level of Darth Vader vs. Batman: James Spader vs. Andrew McCarthy. Truly, a CLASH OF THE TITANS!

Though minus points for going for Ron Howard; he's such an obvious choice that he comes to mind right away.

Yul Brenner is a great actor but I don't see what qualifies him for Luthor other than baldness. This is sort of like casting characters based on hair color; only a blonde can play a blonde, and so on...really, these things come in a can these days, it's a minor characteristic.

Macho Man Randy Savage as Lobo was so great that it made my day.

Though after hearing the wholeheartedly cribbed Jerry Goldsmith score for the hilariously miscast RAIDERS clone flick KING SOLOMON'S MINES, I have seriously lost respect for him as a result of that act of intellectual theft.

Lord Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman - Tyrone Power
Lois Lane - Linda Darnell
Perry White - John Hamilton
Jimmy Olsen - Ron Howard (circa Happy Days)
Lord Jor-El - Charlton Heston (circa Ben-Hur)
Lara Lor-Van - Olivia DeHavilland
Jonathan Kent - Tom Selleck
Martha Kent - Diane Keaton
Lana Lang - Ann-Margret (circa Viva Las Vegas)
Kara In-Ze/Supergirl - Elisabeth Harnois
John Henry Irons/Steel – Brock Peters (circa To Kill a Mockingbird)
Lex Luthor - Yul Brynner
Brainiac - Vincent Price
General Dru-Zod - Basil Rathbone
Parasite - Woody Harrelson
Metallo - Malcolm McDowell (circa A Clockwork Orange)
Manchester Black - Ewan McGregor
Prometheus - Alan Rickman
Darkseid - Ving Rhames
Bizarro - Rock Hudson (circa Pillow Talk)
Ugly Bruno Mannheim - Treat Williams
Morgan Edge - James Spader
Mongul - André the Giant
Lobo - Macho Man Randy Savage
Magog (from Kingdom Come) - Ron Perlman

Director/co-screenwriter – Nicholas Meyer
Co-screenwriter – Matt Wagner
Producer – David O. Selznick
Music – Jerry Goldsmith
Creative consultants – Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Director of photography – James Wong Howe
Editor – Paul Hirsch
Costume designers – Milo Anderson and Edith Head
Production designer – Anthony Pratt
FX – Weta Ltd.
Character makeup – Doug Drexler and John Caglione Jr.
Stunt coordinator – R.A. Rondell
Concept artists – Steve Rude, Ed McGuinness, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Doug Mahnke

In retrospect, seeing the virulent attacks on Superman Returns based on completely stupid reasons, I don't imagine this movie would fare any better. So I guess it's best that it's just an impossible fantasy.

[King Krypton]

Hmmm, good casting, King Krypton. Though why do you think Elizabeth Harnois would make a good Supergirl?

I've always had a thing for her since childhood (she and I are the same age), and frankly, I wanna see her in spandex.

Shallow, yes, but that's just me.  :wink:

Linda Darnell - absolutely, absolutely brilliant casting here.

It also happens to be one of the most hated choices I made. I keep getting told to replace her with Rosalind Russell or Katharine Hepburn.

Ving Rhames as Darkseid sounds fascinating. He has such intelligence and dignity, uncommon in a big guy. Someone once suggested Howie Long for Doc Savage and that was the first but not the last time I wished you could slap someone through the internet.

It's also a pretty popular choice in fan circles for those reasons. Michael Clarke Duncan's also a propular choice, but after Daredevil some think it would be too much.

And I'm all in favor of any Brat-packer - especially a talent like Jimmy Spader. LESS THAN ZERO showed possibly one of the greatest celebrity deathmatches of all time, on the level of Darth Vader vs. Batman: James Spader vs. Andrew McCarthy. Truly, a CLASH OF THE TITANS!

This one I cheated on. I picked Spader because he plays sleazes pretty well. Otherwise Edge is a tough character to cast. He's got to be young enough to be a thorn in Clark/Superman's side, but not so young that he can't hack the corporate TV mogul gig.

Yul Brenner is a great actor but I don't see what qualifies him for Luthor other than baldness. This is sort of like casting characters based on hair color; only a blonde can play a blonde, and so on...really, these things come in a can these days, it's a minor characteristic.

Attitude and presence. Yeah, he's bald, but he conveys arrogance and menace, at least to me. His lack of hair is just icing on the cake. This is a guy I can believe could rule a global criminal empire with an iron fist and have the nerve to calmly threaten a demigod and make good on his threats. And since I picked Tyrone Power as Superman, I wanted someone powerful enough to make a worthy adversary.

[Permanus]

Rock Hudson as Bizarro? Inspired, man... Inspired.

[Gangbuster]

New Rule. Any new Superman movie must have Rachel Weisz as Wonder Woman:

http://home.iprimus.com.au/rennyr/Gallery_Rachel2.html

Not necessarily for any reason, though.