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IESB: A lot of people don't think Superman can be that dark, or that you could make such a dark Superman film.
BR: I don't know, I don't think the character necessarily has to be darker, I think he is kind of dark in a sense, emotional dark, in Superman Returns, and the movie as a whole was slightly dark, they could have had more prowess in it I suppose, and I think that's one thing that can be done in the sequel, so I don't know how much darker you want to make it necessarily. You make the stakes higher, you make the villain darker, I think that's a way to do it. But I don't think Superman himself needs to be darker. He definitely has to struggle, how does Superman be a part of the world? And does he have to make sacrifices to be a part of that world? To fit in and what purpose does he really play in the world? Those are all kind of dark places to explore. But, I don't think Superman should ever be dark and brooding, that's not is nature. And that's now what people what to see. Like Brainiac or something like that, a situation when the villain is...
IESB: Would that be a good, if you had a choice is that the villain you'd like to see in the next Superman?
BR: I think it would certainly be interesting, I think there are a lot of things you could do with Brainiac. He's been given a lot of power and a lot of different abilities over the years in the comics, as far as I understand. I know that DC is working on a Brainiac storyline that they are excited about and I think combining the two and have that flow between the comics and the movie would be a nice thing. I honestly think there are a lot of interesting things you can do with Brainiac. Controlling people, controlling technology, a lot of cool things.
IESB: Talking about one Kevin, Kevin Smith, let's talk about another Kevin, Kevin Munroe. I love him, we've been talking about Dylan Dog for a while, what's going on?
BR: Well, I think we are actually going to make it now (laughing). I've never said that before, but I will now, all the paperwork is being finalized finally and we are looking really strong for a January, mid-January start I believe, in New Orleans. And, Kevin and I are looking at the script again and he's got his draft and I am excited about it.
IESB: Good, so is it still called Dead of Night or is it Dylan Dog?
BR: Dead of Night is the title, as far as I know, there hasn't been a change in that.
Until they decide to change it next week or something (laughs).
"It's gonna be like Michael Corleone in the Godfather films, the entire story from beginning to end, you see where he starts, how he becomes who he becomes, and where that takes him. The Dark Knight showed you can take a comic book property and make a serious film, and I think the studios are ready to listen to bigger ideas now."
"The problem with Superman Returns was like releasing Star Wars in '77, The Empire Strikes Back in '80 and then waiting 28 years to release Return of the Jedi, it wasn't relevant. I understand what Bryan Singer was trying to do, to pay homage to Richard Donner's original vision, but I think you should pay homage by doing something completely different."
"I want to start on Krypton, a thousand years ago, and end with Superman alone on Planet Earth, the last being left on the planet, as the yellow sun turns red and starts to supernova, and he loses his powers."
Why have you decided to say goodbye to Doctor Who?
When I first started back in 2005, I always thought that if it worked out, three years would be about the right time.
Three years, three series. Which I did and I loved and I had a great time. And with Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner [executive producers] leaving, that became a very natural stepping off point for me.
What became very difficult was when it was announced that Steven Moffatt was taking over because I'm such a fan of his, he's such a great writer, he's written such amazing stories for me in Doctor Who already.
The prospect of hanging around for a while and enjoying working with him was sorely tempting and very nearly changed my mind.
But I think it's better to go when there's a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome.
Do you think you'll ever do anything as special as Doctor Who again?
It's difficult to know… I think the cross-generational, cross-cultural appeal of Doctor Who is pretty unique. I can't think of anything else that has fans who are seven and 70 in almost equal measure.
It's difficult to think of what else one might do that could rival that. I hope I'll do things that will be as exciting and as thrilling artistically and professionally, obviously, but I think Doctor Who is pretty unique.
“Christian is hot property right now, courtesy of Batman.Not too sure what to make of this one but he is John Conner and Batman so could he squeeze one more franchise into the mix and for Marvel too? Who know's but with a supposed script by Neil Gaiman and Guillermo del Toro at the helm maybe its not too hard to imagine it happen.
“Doctor Strange is a very different kind of hero to Batman and it’s felt Christian is the sort of actor who can make the part work on screen.
“It is understood a deal could be struck in the coming weeks.”
Quint: You were talking about IMAX earlier and I guess we should probably talk a little about that since the word buzzing around the internet is that you’re looking at doing something similar to what Christopher Nolan did for THE DARK KNIGHT on IRON MAN 2…
Jon Favreau: Yeah, I loved watching DARK KNIGHT in the IMAX format. It’s the first time I saw a movie in that format that wasn’t made just for IMAX. And a lot of it I think was very, I think it was very effective. The difficulty with our film is that our main character is CG a lot of the time. And when you start shooting in IMAX format… it’s a bit unwieldy on the set first of all and second of all, I’m not convinced yet that CGI is going to look…I’m more of a believer now after the experience on IRON MAN, but it was very painstaking to integrate him effectively and not have it be distracting.
And I think that IMAX, I’m warned, costs a lot more, it’s a lot harder to render because of the resolution and I’m not sure at that resolution CGI is convincing yet. So, there are a lot of drawbacks, but in meeting with them the blowups to IMAX format are as effective in many ways, so we’ll see where we land on it, but I doubt that we’re actually going to have IMAX cameras on the set. It becomes very difficult for processing and all of that.
I think it works well for DARK KNIGHT because a lot of that was just practical shots and helicopter shots or shots where there’s CGI in the background, set extensions things like that. But you didn’t have a CGI Batman running through the frame all the time.
Quint: But you saw AVATAR, or you saw some pieces, so will that be the game-changer you think?
Jon Favreau: Look, I went and saw a digital 3-D projection of BEOWULF when that first came out. And that’s one of those films where in 3-D…I don’t know if I would recommend the film on its own merits, but in the a CG environment I was recommending it to people because the experience was so different it was so dream-like in the way that you perceive it and I think it hits you it hits your brain in a different way. It makes the experience a different experience, it feels more like a dream than a movie, and I thought it was extremely effective in that.
And in watching the way that James Cameron is approaching AVATAR… he’s really pushing the boundaries on motion capture, he’s integrating live action with motion capture and CGI. It takes a painstaking and technical approach to that. And he really wants to make it a very visceral, emotional experience and he’s… he’s a bit of a P.T. Barnum in the sense that he likes to put on a big show.
He’s sort of tireless in how much he invests into it as far as his time and effort. You know, he doesn’t make a lot of movies, so a lot of thought and effort goes into each one. And I think that he’s trying to present this format in a way where it is a game-changer and in seeing it I think it’s the future. I don’t think it’s a flash in the pan. I think it’s going to open up a whole new door and I think more so than the glasses it becomes about how many screens could actually present it in its pristine form.
The amount of screens is just growing at a very, very fast rate in the states and I think in Europe as well and I think AVATAR is going to be the kind of movie that’s an event that you have to go see and you want to see again just to understand what you’re looking at. And then you still have his very effective storytelling. He really creates an adventure and draws you into it in the hero’s journey sense of storytelling, the Joseph Campbell sense of storytelling. I really liked the bits that I saw and I saw all the various stages of finished, but he’s a purist in the way he approaches things, and he’s very meticulous.
And a lot of what he’s using we’re exploring using similar techniques in IRON MAN 2 because it is a game-changer from a production standpoint certainly in the way he’s using motion capture and operating a camera within a volume and the way that the pipeline works now is… the line between animation and live action is blurring in many ways and I think that we could borrow a lot from what people have learned through animation as far as making a movie and not just storyboard, animatic, pre-viz, shoot plates, cut it together with post-viz, deliver it to the vendor and then hope you get the shot there in time for the movie’s release.
And you’re crossing your fingers all the way till the sound mix. The way that Jim’s doing it, it’s a much more organic process where post-production, production, and pre-production all sort of roll into one another and you’re moving back and forth between those media.
Quint: Interesting.
Jon Favreau: You’re moving back and forth as far as what media you’re creating. You really value mentors and people you can learn from when you’re in my line of work. Because everybody’s breaking new ground and there aren’t that many people who are at the top of their field. Fortunately people like Jim are very generous with their time and with wanting to share what they’ve discovered with other filmmakers, so I learned a great deal about motion capture, a great deal about cgi, a great deal about 3-d and digital photography, from spending some time with him. And I also have learned a lot just from watching his movies. So I’m glad he does what he does and I’m glad that he’s been so generous with his time and knowledge.
Quint: (laughs) That’s crazy. Well, where are you right now with IRON MAN 2?
Jon Favreau: Justin (Theroux)’s almost done with the first draft of the script. And we’re boarding and been creating animatics for the action sequences. We’re starting to do some location scouting and designing some sets and figuring out how much of it we want to… you know, what techniques we’re going to use. And the best is to mix and match the best of everything. I’m less of a purist to one style or another. I find that you got to make, you have to use the technique that best tells the story for any given moment and also that makes… that isn’t irresponsible with resources because even with a big movie like IRON MAN 2 you have to pay attention to every dollar you spend.
Quint: Yeah and well you got to make sure it’s up on the screen too. You don’t have the luxury coming off of a popular first movie of under-delivering on the sequel.
Jon Favreau: I think that I could borrow a lot from…I think a lot too many decisions were made at the end of the process, we work on this thing for two years but we don’t really lock in on the performances, at least as far as the CGI goes, till the very, very end of the process and you’re bottle necked with your sound mix, your scoring, youre final editing, and youre color timing. And so I found myself up at Skywalker Ranch making millions of decisions and not always feeling confident that I was having the clarity on any given one.
And what I’m learning, what I’m trying to incorporate is more of a, certainly for the action sequences, create a pipeline that’s more similar to a CGI film like a Pixar film or even like AVATAR. Where you can work on and refine the action stuff before you even begin shooting, and let the action and the performances be serviced by the plates and not back into a performance by the plates that you’ve shot. And so I was very, very lucky to have gotten somebody to collaborate with me on that stuff and teach me a little bit more of the animation approach to action.
I had Genndy Tartakovsky. I’ve always liked SAMURAI JACK and I loved his CLONE WARS vignettes that he did. I’ve always liked his work, a lot. And I had met with him, we had lunch together just because I enjoy his stuff and I wanted to meet him. I really dig his sense of humor and his sense of rhythm, and the way that he acknowledges the same cinematic masters that I really love the work of, like (Akira) Kurosawa and (Sergio) Leone. And he finds a way to pastiche it without ever undermining the stakes or the reality of the tension that’s created in his action sequences.
Now clearly his stuff is a bit broad for a live action film but I love his rhythm and his attention to detail. It has a real comic booky feel but yet it feels cinematic and not gimmicky and even his cartoons feel… there’s an elegance to them.
So in this process as we’re storyboarding and designing sequences he and his team have come in and I’m working with them and they’re working on collaborating with us on the project and that’s a new wrinkle and it allows me… I feel like I’m really learning a lot from collaborating with this guy.
And then he has the original IRON MAN film to draw from and he also has a pretty deep knowledge of Marvel. So, he is transitioning into live-action features, which I have no doubt in collaborating with him that he will. There’s a transition that he’s making that hopefully I could be helpful with and at the same time as I move from dialogue and character and story-driven filmmaking I’m able to understand the way to approach action in an interesting and elegant way. So, it’s been a very, very fun collaboration so far.
“They read it, they loved it”To check out The Graveyard Book for yourself go to here, to watch Neil Gaiman read The Graveyard Book chapter by chapter.
“They want to start making films, and start producing their own films,” Gaiman told MTV. “And they read it, and they loved it, and I spoke to them, and they said all the right things, and they seem to listen.
“So I don’t think it’s going to be transported to a graveyard in Los Angeles where they’ve been burying bathing beauties or anything. I think we’re actual going to stick with where the book is written and film that.”
Well ... let me think how to put this. There are two things to be said. One is the emphasis on story. What’s the story? Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question. On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name? [Laughs.] At the same time, in taking on the second one, we had the challenge of trying to make a great second movie, and there haven't been too many of those either. It’s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible. I hope that was a suitably slippery answer.
Can you talk more about the news about Dr. Strange and Guillermo del Toro?
Well, I don't know that it's really news! The wonderful thing about the Internet is that things get mentioned in interviews or whatever and then they come out and suddenly something is news. I mean, this morning my inbox filled up with people letting me know that it's news that Roger Avary and I are no longer writing Black Hole, and I'm going, "But that was news in December of last year!" [laughs] We pretty much knew that going into the writer's strike, and we definitely knew once David Fincher came onboard after the writer's strike. It's astonishingly old news, it's just hit the thing today.
I would love to write Dr. Strange. It would be absolutely one of my dream jobs [to write] a Dr. Strange movie. Last year I was out in Budapest for three weeks on the set of Hellboy II with Guillermo, and I mentioned to him that I've been, in very very early sort of "I would to do this" talks with Marvel about doing a Dr. Strange movie, and Guillermo's reaction was, "Neil, I want to direct it!" [doing Guillermo del Toro imitation] being wonderfully Guillermo and getting all excited and having all sorts of magical and wonderful ideas about this, and Marvel, I think, were very excited too. But the fact of the matter is, you know, Guillermo has two Hobbit movies now, and then he's probably gonna do another personal movie, I would imagine, after that. Probably Hellboy 3 'cause he'd wanna do it before everybody gets too old to look like the Hellboy characters [laughs]. Although, actually I think he may have thought that one through in different ways. Anyway, the point is we're probably, we may be four years away from Guillermo being free to do it, and I'm not entirely sure I'd want to do it without him. So we'll see.
What's the latest on Death: The High Cost of Living?
Well, I think the latest is that we're all waiting to see what happens to New Line. Death is a very odd thing because, unlike Coraline or Anansi Boys, which I'm doing for Warners, or The Graveyard Book or any of those kinds of things, I don't own and control the rights to Death. I'm attached to it, I've written a script for it, I'm meant to be directing it... but I don't control it, and for reasons having to do with corporate relationships between DC Comics and Warner Brothers, it has to be done by a Warner Brothers company, and then you have to find a Warner Brothers studio within Warner Brothers that will be a good fit for that film, and of course New Line was a really good fit for that film, and it remains to be seen right now what New Line is when the dust is settled and whether there is a New Line or not.
"It's all going to depend on the screenplay and where his character goes in any sequel, because he does have a multiple-picture deal," she said of Norton, who told us recently that he's waiting to hear from Marvel regarding Hulk's future. "[Norton's situation] is the same with every franchise like this, when you have one of the top actors of his generation."But first, will he be in The Avengers? :
"Next, he's likely to appear in an 'Avengers' movie, but that's completely up to Marvel," she explained. "It's wonderful that Marvel now controls so many of their own characters, and they can create a Marvel universe in film and populate it with so many of their characters who naturally exist together. I think an 'Avengers' film is a very exciting prospect."The Incredible Hulk Alternate Opening!