Hey folks, Harry here... After Moriarty's story about the alleged SUPERMAN film, and I say alleged, because with those sorts of changes, the character hardly deserves to be labelled with such a beloved name, and certainly shouldn't be wearing the uniform. Well, screenwriter JJ Abrams is going to be at an event where he'll be meeting his "fans" and you can go right up to him and ask your question, and let him know how you feel. Here's the info...
I just wanted to let all geeks know that JJ Abrams will be appearing at Barnes & Noble in the Grove shopping center (3rd andFairfax)October 8, 2002at8pmfor a book signing with Jennifer Garner. If y’all really want to make your feelings known, then is maybe a good time to take it up with the man.
Here'sa another appearance you may want to show up at...
My friend Is a student at Tisch Scool of Film @ NYU. I thought you would be interested to know that Brett Ratner will be there to screen Red Dragon on Thursday night. I thought maybe you could put this on your site so some fans out there could go out and ask him to unfuck himself and J.J. Abrahms over their destroying of the Superman franchise. We all know there is no hope for Jon Peters.
Darkmaster 5150
Now, you might be asking yourself what possible reason could there be for such a radical change to the character, origin and simple basic character beats as can be found in the draft of SUPERMAN that JJ Abrams has made. Well, there is all sorts of speculation. Stupidity. Dropped as a child. Mental Illness. Arrogance. The typical labels we love to throw at Hollywood, but as Deep Throat once told Robert Redford, Follow The Money.
Sometimes on projects, if a creative exec or screenwriter or actor contributes a basic change to an existing character, they get a percentage of the merchandizing of that character. Ask Jon Peters and Jack Nicholson about "Jack Napier / The Joker" and the money they reaped from that basic change. The sculpted Batman armor black. Who got kick backs from these basic creative elements from the original BATMAN? Why would you push to put SUPERMAN in a black costume Mr Peters back in the days of Kevin Smith? Why the Giant Spider and the Polar Bears? Could it be that those "intellectual contributions" carry a certain amount of filthy lucre value?
Why radically change Lex Luthor's origin... give him superpowers? Why create all this Krypton stuff? Toys. T-shirts. Calendars. PJs. Shampoo dispensers. Getting a piece of all of that adds up to a great deal of money for the folks that pull the strings on projects like SUPERMAN where merchandizing is king. This is the key reason behind most of the changes in the characters and stories you love from the past. All for the love of money... Not to serve the story.
Ever wonder why Jack Napier didn't become part of official D.C. Joker lore? Why he kept his costume the way it was in his books? Why these different universes from Animated to Television to Comics to Screen are all so radically different? Yup - it has a lot to do with proprietary intellectual material as added by folks with a hankering for good ol pie.
Now, does Warner Brothers intend to radically change their direction and listen to you the fans? Don't bet on it. In today's Hollywood Reporter story by the fabulous Zorianna Kitt, you can find absolute un-repentant behavior...
Here's what Production President at Wanker... I mean Warner Brothers had to say:
Jeff Robinov: "J.J. Abrams and Jon Peters were given the daunting task of reimagining the Superman epic, and J.J. met the challenge, delivering a terrific script with emotion, depth and scale that bring new dimension to this legendary character."
Then Brett Ratner has already been talking with the MERCHANDISING and PUBLICITY teams at Wanker... I mean Warner Brothers:
"They've done such big movies and understand how to market this type of film," Brett Ratner said. "I've already met with the merchandising and publicity departments -- they are so on top of their game."
However, there is one part of Zorianna's wonderful story that just really got under my skin. It's where Brett Ratner says:
"I have the first Superman comic book framed in my house..."
Well there ya go. The man has ACTION #1 in his house framed. A book that in mint can go for a few hundred thousand dollars. A valuable status symbol of pop-iconography framed upon his wall. Brett... I tell ya what would really impress me. How about a collection of all the Superman comics, not framed, but loose around your house. Piled up on tables. Bagged and boarded, kept in numerical order. And the ability to off the top of your head talk about Beppo the Super Monkey and Comet and Krypto. Talking about the various adaptations from Fleischer to Kirk Alyn to George Reeves to all the animated versions to Christopher Reeve to even the funky versions we've had in recent years in Live Action.
Why was Jimmy Olsen SUPERMAN's best friend? Why'd he give him that watch? Talk about the different tellings of Lois Lane? The war time years of Superman. The camp years of Indian Headdresses and fat phonebooth issues. What do the various shades of kryptonite do? If you're a real fan, why are you not doing a Bizarro story like everyone with a brain would want to see happen? Who beat who when Ali took on Superman? What was Comet the Super Horse's secret? Who dated Lois' sister and what was her job? Ya know... It's amazing what you can talk about when you have more than one issue and they're not behind glass.
Folks, these changes and the sheer arrogance of this thing just piss me off to no end. I mean there are screenwriters out there that know this material like the back of their hands, and you give it to some "hot" fucking TV show writer to fucking reimagine? There is a reason SUPERMAN has lasted as long as it has, because there were simple elegant truths to the character. He's an orphan, unique in all the universe, the last of his kind, the one, the only... SUPERMAN.
Why did Lex Luthor and Braniac become the main bad guys to fight Superman over the years? Basic and elemental. It was Brains against Brawn. Hell, I believe Gene Hackman even said that in Richard Donner's version. Don't reimagine this series for the year 2005 - 2010. Make a timeless story that is for the people that first read that book in 1938 and the ones that'll reread that same issue you have preserved on that wall at your house in 2145. THAT's the power of SUPERMAN, THAT is what is in that frame. A timeless tale of a man that was more than a man.
Ratner... Warner Brothers... If you ask real fans about SUPERMAN and you get them talking you'll find out 4 very simple truthful things.
1. Best Moving SUPERMAN anything was done by Max Fleischer.
2. Most Consistent Moving SUPERMAN storytelling was the WB animated television show.
3. Richard Donner's film was almost perfect.
4. Best Artist to ever render SUPERMAN is Alex Ross. Followed quickly by Curt Swan.Those are the most popular tellings of the stories ever in a medium outside of Comics. The reasons are that they were faithful to the stories as laid down in the comics. Completely true to the spirit and the dream that Superman has given us since his debut in 1938.
Organizing these petitions are good, but organizing mass protest days across from WARNER BROS is better. Working with Comic Shop Owners and having them cease ordering SUPERMAN COMICS till they set this right. Cancel your subscriptions. Tune out of SMALLVILLE. Just drop all interest in SUPERMAN other than petitions, letter writing and physical protests. SUPERMAN isn't the property of Warner Brothers nor did they create him. Superman is in our comic collections, decorating our rooms and talked about by us.
If you run a film website, just cease covering SUPERMAN after you organize your readership to protest. An absence of press the scariest thing. Just turn your backs on the property. Don't cover the casting stories. Until they get back to telling the story of SUPERMAN - they don't exist.
Until we hear this draft is radically changed, don't give them the time of day. There are faithful adaptations to support. LORD OF THE RNGS, HARRY POTTER, SPIDER-MAN. Where they nail the spirit, the tones and the intentions of the original material. Where they respect what has come before and choose to make their films to honor that tradition.
Click Here To Sign The Petition Against This Telling of SUPERMAN
Click Here To Read Moriarty's Original Breakdown of the JJ Abrams Script for SUPERMAN!!!
