WB the Whedon Slayer? Night at the fucking Flash Museum?!

[thehefner]

Joss Whedon is off the Wonder Woman movie as a result of "creative differences," and a new script has been bought instead. Personally, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I don't really care for Whedon's style (as most of you already know, his particular brand of snark and humor makes me want to tear my own head off), but on the other hand, even I can see that he does damn good work and could have made a great WW movie, even if it wasn't to my particular tastes.

On the magical other other hand, he's frequently stated how he likes the "idea" of WW more than the actual character. For one thing, he wanted to do away with the star-spangled panties... which I can understand, sure, but... but it doesn't seem like WW to me! He never did say what she'd be wearing instead... I always always a fan of the Kingdom Come loincloth, personally. But my point is that he basically had no intention to too much of the source material, seems to me. If you have so much disdain for the actual source material, why the hell do a movie in the first place? It's not like Whedon is exactly short of strong female characters.

But then again, WW's source material is... spotty, shall we say? I mean, she certainly lacks the number of instantly memorable solid arcs that pop into a DC fan's head. As kkglinka said, WW lacks a definite modern myth. Anyone could tell you the general story of Superman or Batman, but how many, aside from probably justcomeinalone, could do the same about Diana? Hell, even I'm hard-pressed to give you a solid story! And again, Whedon might really have understood the *potential* for Wonder Woman, capturing the real spirit of the character better than most comic writers over the past 60 years!

That said, the new script that the WB bought is set in WWII, the original era for the character. Now, honestly, I am intrigued by that idea. Between the setting and the character, it has the distinct potential of being decidedly different from the typical superhero origin movie. Plus, it would have Nazis. So we'll see.




Speaking of talented filmmakers getting booted from comic movies and my mixed feelings, David Goyer is off the FLASH movie. Goyer wrote 75% of BATMAN BEGINS (but I get the feeling he's the one to blame for ZenuDrone McBobblehead's character being created), all three BLADE movies (and directed the third... *shudder*) and co-wrote much of JSA (which I loved when it came out, but upon rereading, is total shit for the first collection or two... at least when read side by side with STARMAN).

Goyer's been talking about this for years and has said that his script is excellent, that he's very proud. He also wanted Ryan Reynolds for Wally West, which is bloody perfect. Reynolds is one of those actors like Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott who honestly have crazy tons of acting potential and charisma and so desperately need a good script. You may scoff, but do did many over Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell. Reynolds as the Flash would have been fantastic, and here's hoping whoever takes over the movie will cast him.

Which reminds me, who *is* taking over the FLASH movie? I'm sad that Goyer's gone, even though he's got almost as many flaws as strengths, but I'm sure that whoever the studio hires for their next big superhero movie must be tal-- oh my god, Shawn Levy, director of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, and the motherfucking PINK GODDAMN FUCKING PANTHER remake?

NOOOOOOOOOO! KHAAAAAANNNN!!! RRRRRRRRRRRRRRICHARRRRRRDSSSSS!!!!! CLANCYYYYYYY!!!

As Devin on CHUD.com put it: "We’ve been lucky with superhero films thus far – most of the major ones have been handled by legitimate talents. Even if you didn’t like the movies they turned out, there was no denying that real work and effort went into making these films, that they were treated like real movies. Now we’re entering the next phase of superhero films, where monstrously talentless wanks like Levy get to come play in the sandbox because they can guarantee the kind of box office returns the studios drool for."

Has the bubble burst so quickly? Couldn't we have at least gotten a few more great movies of, like, THE FLASH, GREEN LANTERN, or maybe, like, DR. STRANGE, NAMOR, THOR, or even AQUAMAN (it could be so good... god, it really could) before the inevitable creative backlash? Then again, superhero movies survived CATWOMAN, and there's no way Levy's FLASH could be worse, right? Right?

Oh god. Between this and the current FLASH comics, it's a bad time to be a Flash fan. Pity the Flashers!

Comments

completely and totally off all subjects in this post

[cavenessity.livejournal.com]

Please to be sending me your email address, since i am a dolt and can't find it.

Re: completely and totally off all subjects in this post

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

hehe, it's jhefner2 at washcoll dot edu. I was going to get to e-mailing you soonish, but I needed to rant first. And maybe eat something today.

Honestly, though, I'm just as tempted to take you out for a drink and spend an hour or two talking about it, rather than just sending a long e-mail. Because I totally could. Or you could come here and I'll mix drinks!

[fishymcb.livejournal.com]

Why are you cursing Madeline Kahn?



Seriously? ZenuDrone McBobblehead makes me laugh. Awesome.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Whoops! Stupid "h." Fixed now.

That's high praise from the man who gave us "who are we to question the blessed union between this psychotic dwarf and his nasally, wall-eyed child bride?" if I've got it right.

[gnort.livejournal.com]

my reaction was pretty much the same when I found out Shaun Levy took the helm. It's awful. I'm guessing either Ben Stiller or Steve Martin will take Reynolds place and anyone who watches will melt like the special edition of Raiders on the episode of South Park.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

We'll see. We'll see. Maybe it'll pull through. So far, this isn't nearly as bad sounding as CATWOMAN or the rumor of the Jack Black GREEN LANTERN flick.

Oh god, who am I kidding? This guy did THE PINK PANTHER! We're doomed! Doooooooomed!

[gnort.livejournal.com]

Catwoman was pretty god awful, then again so was Cheaper by the Dozen..we can take solace in the fact that the Jack Black Green Lantern comedy a la The Mask never actually happened. I'm hoping Levy decides to leave, whether it be over creative differences I don't care, but he should pass the ball to someone who can actually do something with it and not just make another schlocky superhero movie. You'd think that Hollywood would've learned after the bombs of Catwoman and Batman and Robin and the box office success of Hellboy and Batman Begins that quality is the way to go but for some reason they don't seem to take the hint.

[victoria-wayne.livejournal.com]

See, this is why I write fanfiction. Because if I wasn't writing that, I'd be writing angry letters full of unladylike language.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

*makes whimpering noises at the mentions of Dr. Strange, Namor, and the Flash. Especially the Flash. (Actually caved and bought some of the recent issues, to her pain.)* X|

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

I've got mixed feelings on the WW news too. It's certainly a case of the devil you know vs. the one you don't. While I had my apprehensions about Whedon doing the movie I was cautiously optimistic. I figured that even if the film turned out to be very flawed it would at least be entertaining. Now it could go any where. That said, there's a review of the new treatment here. It sounds pretty neat so far (can't go wrong with beating up Nazis) but there's still a lot that go wrong with this on the journey from page to screen (please please let them not cast some feather weight starlet as Diana. I want my Wonder Women to look like she could kick my ass, not the other way around). So I'm keeping myself very cautiously optimistic for now.

(also, if it were up to me costume-wise I'd stick Wondy in the outfit she wore in New Frontier -basically her originial outfit with a legionnaire-style pleated skirt- and then have her in ancient Greek-inspired armor for any larger fighting/battle scenes)

The Flash news is depressing, Ryan Reynolds as the Flash would have been sweet. I have to ask how hard it would be to screw it up, but now that it's been put in the hands of the guy who did the Pink Panther remake, well...

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

When I get back a bit later, I'm gonna sit down and give this treatment a little look-see.

I can only be filled with fear since Wizard (that bastion of good taste and intelligent comic criticism), compared Lindsay Lohan to Christina Carpenter and was apalled at the thought casting a WW in her mid-30's, so went for Lohan. Holy fucking God, people. I'm so there with you.

The New Frontier costume is a totally good call.

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

They seriously said that?! ARRGH. Another reason why I think I'm justified in thinking that Wizard is a rag not even worth the paper it's printed on. Or however the saying goes. Besides, isn't Diana in her thirties by now anyway? Granted the treatment is her origin story, so she's young, but still. (As a tangent, Lindsey Lohan was also front and center in another casting rumor that would have made me tear out my hair if true: the title role in a live action Sailor Moon film. However, the rumor was so laughable and obviously untrue that I didn't need to disturb a single follicle) As far as casting for this flick goes, I hope they choose some bright unknown with muscle.

Another costume I liked was the armored suit that Donna Troy wore during the first OYL Wonder Woman issue. That was cool looking. In the end I didn't continue reading after that first issue, but I had a high-res version of the splash page of her introduction as my desktop background for a while.

[jellied.livejournal.com]

I want my Flash whippet thin-- I get super disappointed with the animated series when I realize that he's just as bulky as Superman or the Green Lantern.

Reynolds? Really? I think he'd be an excellent Deadpool personally.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

That is one of my few complaints about the Justice League show, just how freakin' huge and bulky the Timm-verse men got over the years.

And my god, yes, I wholeheartedly support and agree with the casting of Reynolds for Deadpool. I think spacechild and I have discussed that one at length in the past. Yes, yes, yes, I would simply adore seeing that. Add that to the list of good comic properties that should still be and will likely never be optioned!

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

There were really strong rumors going around about him playing Deadpool, but Reynolds himself debunked them. :( I think he'd be great at the part too, though if I had to decide I would rather he play the Flash.