David S. Goyer: ‘Man of Steel’ Being Approached ‘As If It Were Real’

Screen Rant ^ | January 29, 2013 | Andrew Dyce

[Bratch]

Ever since Man of Steel was announced as being written by David S. Goyer and executive produced by Christopher Nolan, the claims of the film being a case of Superman getting ‘the Dark Knight influence’ have persisted. Even though the two men come from, literally, entirely different worlds.

But according to Goyer, this incarnation of Superman (Henry Cavill) isn’t going to be trading realism for fantasy, or hard questions for special effects. In fact, Man of Steel isn’t being approached as a comic book movie at all.

While Marvel may have found success developing comic books into movies without removing much of the humor and wonder seen in the source material, Goyer and Nolan did something different with their take on Batman. Removing or re-imagining elements in order to update an aging story or to help the material speak to modern audiences may be seen as blasphemy by some, but to Goyer, it’s all in the service of a stronger story.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine (via CBM) Goyer outlines his approach to a story familiar to nearly everyone. While staying respectful of the films that preceded Man of Steel, fans should expect something very different this summer:

“We’re approaching ‘Superman’ as if it weren’t a comic book movie, as if it were real… I adore the Donner films. Absolutely adore them. It just struck me that there was an idealist quality to them that may or may not work with today’s audience. It just struck me that if Superman really existed in the world, first of all, this story would be a story about first contact.

“He’s an alien. You can easily imagine a scenario in which we’d be doing a film like ‘E.T.,’ as opposed to him running around in tights. If the world found out he existed, it would be the biggest thing that ever happened in human history… It falls into that idea of trying to humanise the inhuman. He’s made out of steel, he’s not made out of flesh, metaphorically speaking. We are portraying him as a man, yet he’s not a man.”

The scriptwriter pulls no punches in his characterization of Superman as an alien (his suit already makes that clear), and not the simple embodiment of “truth, justice and the American way” to which he is so often reduced. However, in the process, Man of Steel seems to be as much a story about societies and how they view outsiders. Specifically, how the entire human race would view something as ‘outside’ our own experiences as a full-blown alien entity.

It’s not hard to see the themes of immigration, belonging, and communal identity that Goyer is driving at (claiming that this is a movie he feels “the world needs right now“), but conceiving of a Superman who is so markedly removed from mankind takes this reboot into entirely different realms. As Goyer alludes to, Richard Donner’s Superman (1978) never concerned itself with showing how the government or people on the street would react to an alien revealed to have been hiding among them.

Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns (2006) jumped even further into acceptance of Superman as a celebrity, not just a superhero. But Cavill’s closing lines of dialogue seen in the full Man of Steel trailer posed the question to all viewers quite plainly: “My father believed that if the world found out what I really was, they would reject me… what do you think?”

That willingness to face prejudice, fear, paranoia, and even hatred without sugarcoating humanity’s, shall we say, less flattering tendencies, promises a film that is at least new, if not universally-pleasing. The themes at work have impressed executive producer Christopher Nolan, as has director Zack Snyder’s vision for the big screen. But how do you tell such a serious, grounded story about a superhero from another world?

That’s a question that has yet to be asked by DC superhero movies, since Nolan and Goyer’s previous work on Batman was an extremely personal story of suffering and trauma. The task is a more difficult one, but at the end of the day, the story of Superman can be reduced to one core question of identity. A question hinted at in the pair of teaser trailers, but hinging on the ability to make it feel real:

“It is obviously a much longer process with a character like Superman. It is much easier to do a realistic take on Batman. You know nothing can hurt Superman, presumably other than Kryptonite. The challenge was simply: Can we figure out a way to make those elements work, quote unquote, in the real world? It’s very much a story of a man with two fathers.”

Nobody ever accused David S. Goyer or Zack Snyder of making things easy on themselves. And as if pairing such a personal struggle alongside “massive” action and backdrops, the word out of Warner Bros. is that much of the direction and feasibility of any Justice League movie will rest on how Man of Steel is received by the public.

The report comes from Variety, with Warner Bros. President Jeff Robinov explaining that the studio is “awaiting the results” of Snyder’s Man of Steel before moving forward. That fact has been assumed to this point, but this certainly puts a damper on anyone expecting massive secret announcements at Comic-Con 2013.

What do you think of Goyer’s approach to grounding Superman, and facing the world’s reaction to his presence head on? Is this the story you’ve been waiting to see told (on film) or the wrong direction altogether?

Man of Steel hits theaters June 14th, 2013. Pick up Empire‘s March issue on newsstands this Thursday.

[allmendream]

A kryptonite sniper bullet traveling faster than the speed of sound.

[Durus]

Lead deforms and splits exposing the kryptonite just like a steel core armor piercing round.

[dead]

It’s not hard to see the themes of immigration, belonging, and communal identity that Goyer is driving at (claiming that this is a movie he feels “the world needs right now“)

Boy that just unsold me.

I didn't like that script when it was the lyrics to John Lennon's Imagine.

Great Caesar's ghost!

[Dr. Sivana]

Lead deforms and splits exposing the kryptonite just like a steel core armor piercing round.

Supes is still invulnerable until the lead splits. It will bounce off his chest before it splits. It is such a small amount he should be able to move sufficiently away if it bounces nearby.

[Durus]

Lead doesn’t bounce. It deforms and splits allowing the pretty green kryptonite to pierce Supermans previously invulnerable skin slicing a wound channel and spreading the poison throught out his body.

[Dr. Sivana]

Anyone who has ever seen Superman have lead bullets shot at him sees the bullets bounce off his chest. And of course bullets ricochet. So, yeah, at the key mokent of impact, the bullet would bounce, and by the time the k-rock was exposed, the payload would be far enough away.

[Durus]

What you are seeing isn’t bullets “bouncing” off Superman but lead deforming, splitting, and fragmenting off a surface harder than steel.

[Sideshow Bob]

I don't think we watched the same movies.

Nolan did pretty well with all three, particularly the last two and ESPECIALLY the last one.

Nolan I slow and b-o-o-o-ring.
Nolan II awful with a lousy ending message (that made no sense until redeemed in...)
Nolan III which served as an antidote to the poison of II. Clearly the best of the Nolan trilogy, but still so dark and dense that it cannot appeal to all ages of viewers.

I’m a Marvel guy, but the Marvel movies haven’t all been that great, either;

Spider-Man (great) AGREED.
Spider-Man II (excellent) AGREED.
Spider-Man III (trash) It was OK - too long, too much story.

X-Men didn’t nearly live up, especially the casting.

OK, that's where I really draw the line! X-Men was very good, X2 was really good and X3 was awesome. Granted, the casting of Cyclops was fairly weak, but Patrick Stewart as Xavier. Ian McKellen as Magneto, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Alan Cummings as Nightcrawler and - my favorite - Kelsey Grammer as Beast were inspired choices.

Even X-Men 1st Class had plenty of phenomonal casting. Michael Fassbender as young Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as young Mystique, January Jones as Emma Frost were good choices. And Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw... genius, pure genius. Sure, the minor characters had very weak casting, but by movie #4 most series sufffer really serious drop-offs. I didn't sense that.

Wolverine was just OK. AGREED, but I loved Liev Schreiber as Sabertooth.

Both HULK movies sucked donkey balls. ESPECIALLY THE 1st one!

Iron Man really brought it out but Avengers just wasn’t that good, bordering on the sucky.

Wow, I couldn't disagree more. I haven't anticipated a movie more AND had my anticipations met and exceeded more than by the Avengers. It was the most fun I've had at the movies since the original Star Wars (IV) in 1977.

[SJSAMPLE]

That’s not how bullets work.
Lead is soft.
The moment it hits whatever it hits, the lead deforms.
It doesn’t simply bounce off in it’s original form, as if it were made of Superman himself.

Once it deforms, the same way it would if it hit a steel plate, the Kryptonite core would be exposed and Supes would get what’s coming to his pansie ass ;)

[SJSAMPLE]

Wolverine isn’t your typical Hollyweird actor height.
He’s a “runt” by his own admission.

Storm was dreadful.
Jean Grey was dreadful.
Cyclops was weak, especially for a leader.

Stewart and McKellan were admittedly FANTASTIC.

Rogue was pitiful, as were most of the Xavier student body.

First Class was great, but mainly because of Fassbender and the use of the 1960s timeline. Cold War and Mutants - Teh Win.

Avengers just didn’t bring it, but it was good to see an actual Dr. Bruce Banner and not a punching bag. Black Widow sure didn’t sound Russian at any point in any of her movies or scenes, and I have a hard time believing whats-her-face in that role.

[Dr. Sivana]

The moment it hits whatever it hits, the lead deforms. The lead may well deform upon contact, but you cannot tell me that bullets don't ricochet. It doesn't matter if it's Kryptonite undercoating is exposed after the hit, the bullet is long gone; the energy in the deformed lead has to go somewhere, and Superman is the immovable object at the time of impact.

By the way, you can more easily get his pansy a** by using copper bullets. With all those bystanders around the ricocheting bullets, I am amazed that an innocent bystander hasn't taken one in the temple, violating Superman's Code Against Killing (definitely post WW II)

[Dr. Sivana]

Superman BEFORE the Code Against Killing:



Superman AFTER the Code Aginst Killing:

[SJSAMPLE]

Yep.
They de-nutted Supes.

[Sideshow Bob]

Storm was dreadful.
Jean Grey was dreadful.
Cyclops was weak, especially for a leader...
Rogue was pitiful, as were most of the Xavier student body.

Was it the casting that was bad or the actors themselves OR was it the writing and characterization?

I will agree that casting Halle Barry as Storm was typical Hollywood PC casting and that she has sleepwalked the role in each film. Barry was too old and too American for the role, but I think the producers were trying to add "star" power to the cast. In my head, I always envisioned a younger version of the model Iman as Storm.

I thought Famke Jansen was OK as Jean Grey and the movies' storyline and characterization was pretty good.

Cyclops was a complete disappointment in the story, characterization AND casting. Marsden was terrible in a terrible role and completely unlikeable character.

I will agree and disagree in part with you on Rogue. In X1, the character and writing was OK. I thought Anna Paquin did a good job in the first film, but by X2 & X3 the actress and the role became nothing but whiny non-entities.

First Class was great, but mainly because of Fassbender and the use of the 1960s timeline. Cold War and Mutants - Teh Win.

I liked the clever storyline and thought Kevin Bacon was pretty awesome as a villain (Bacon's & Fassbender's German diction was flawless, btw). But Oliver Platt was savagely underused in the film and the supporting mutant roles were not well cast at all - especially Beast & Banshee.

Avengers just didn’t bring it, but it was good to see an actual Dr. Bruce Banner and not a punching bag. Black Widow sure didn’t sound Russian at any point in any of her movies or scenes, and I have a hard time believing whats-her-face in that role.

I thought Scarlett Johannsen was a good choice when first cast in the role in Iron Man II. I could almost buy her Russian spy thing. The thing that bothered me is that she is clearly 25 pounds heavier than when first cast. Apparently she must have found solace in a pallet full of Ben & Jerry's after being dumped by Ryan Reynolds. Go back and "check the tape" - in IMII, Scarlett was yummy in that skin tight Widow suit. In Avengers, she looked dumpy - especially when contrasted with a positively-smoking Cobie Smulders (who must have lost 15 lbs. from her "How I Met Your Mother" role to fit into her SHIELD catsuit).

Overall, I thought Avengers was outstanding as the 6th "sequel" and culmination in the Marvel series (Iron Man 1&2, Thor, Capt America and the second Hulk movies). The dialog was great and the hero spotlight was well-shared. It was entertaining, fun and light and - unlike Nolan's morose Dark Knight trilogy - you didn't need to be a comic book geek to enjoy the film or the story (although I will admit to formerly being a comic book geek having once owned 210 of the first 275 issues of the original Avengers books - issues 8-74 & 129-275).

Oh well, everyone has their own opinion.