You gotta kind of be feeling for Zack Snyder right about now. His brainchild, fantasy action pic “Sucker Punch” is just over a week away from hitting theaters and the advance buzz is muted at best and of course, he’s got the huge responsibility and weight of fanboy expectation on his back for the upcoming “Superman” relaunch. There’s a lot of pressure on the helmer, but he’s bravely pushing forward and he’s gonna do it his way whether anyone likes it or not.
In an interview with Hero Complex, Snyder says that unlike Bryan Singer‘s “Superman Returns” which was reverential to Richard Donner‘s films, his take on the iconic superhero won’t be chained to its cinematic predecessors. “Literally, the one thing that everyone can start to think about is that we’re making a movie that finally goes with the approach that there’s been no other Superman movies,” Snyder said. “If you look at ‘Batman Begins,’ there’s that structure, there’s the canon that we know about and respect but on the other hand there’s this approach that pre-supposes that there haven’t been any other movies. In every aspect of design and of story, the whole thing is very much from that perspective of: respect the canon but don’t be a slave to the movies.”
Frankly, it’s exactly the kind of shake-up the franchise needs though we can’t say we’re too surprised; with Christopher Nolan overseeing the development, a fresh approach taking the core of the Superman mythology and making it fresh — like he did with Batman — was pretty much inevitable. But it’s good to hear that Snyder is eager to pursue that path.
“Superman is the one constant in the universe,” Snyder said, addressing that he is stepping into the unknown. “You know that if you do Superman right — or at least if you do him with respect — you know you end up with something great…. [but] in some ways [beyond] that is virgin territory. No one knows what that is. In some ways Superman is the most recognizable superhero on the planet but also the most unknown. Just what can he be? People have preconceived ideas about him but probably all of them are wrong.”
Other than that, Snyder played his cards close to the chest. He wouldn’t comment much further on the cast except to say that it was shaping up to be “awesomeness” and he describes his Superman as “a physical cat.” As for the suit Supes will wear, Snyder does say it will be unveiled prior to the start of shooting to prevent shitty set photos from leaking out. Comic Con anyone?
“Superman” will hit theaters in December 2012.
