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You'll get a kick out of this... http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=169526&threshold=1&commentsort=0&tid=97&tid=186&tid=1&mode=thread&cid=14128733

Fantastic thread Rob - This is what the comics section shopuld be about.....
fascinating mate.

jawdropjawdropjawdrop

Holy Christ. Thank God all of those guys got off the project ( Peters/Abrams/McG/Ratner etc.) I'm shocked at Tim Burton; I thought he was actually a comics fan.

For those who don't want to read the whole thing,here's just some of the crazy concepts wanted for the movie: (not in order)

Lemkin's draft had Superman dying in battle with Doomsday, but managing to impregnate Lois as he's dying by way of Immaculate Conception. Lois is killed off later in the story, but not before giving birth to a baby who grows 21 years in three weeks' time, and takes over as the new Superman and saves the universe from Armageddon. Lemkin's script--which even he proudly boasted was campy and silly--was scrapped because WB thought it was too similar to Batman Forever. So Peters hired porn veteran Gregory Poirier--who scripted Peters' Rosewood, and has since written the bomb See Spot Run and served as writer-director on the much-derided Tomcats--to start over. Poirier's script had an angst-ridden Superman visiting a shrink in order to deal with his feelings of being an outsider and a freak by virtue of his alien heritage, ditching his red and blues for a black suit, using Kryptonian martial arts, and being killed by a Doomsday who bled kryptonite, Brainiac, the Silver Banshee, and the Parasite. WB liked the script, but when Kevin Smith was offered to be a consultant on the film, he blasted the script for its lack of respect for the source material. (Poirier took offense at Smith's reaction, claiming that he "would never stoop to Kevin's level by dissing another writer's work." Smith made such a convincing case that WB hired him to write the film.
And this is where things got REALLY ugly. First off, Smith was taken aback when Peters asked him, in all sincerity, "'Kal-El'? Who's this 'Kal-El' guy you keep mentioning in the script?" Then the insanity really started to take over. Peters demanded that Superman be stripped of his red and blue suit, arguing that the suit was "too pink, too f@ggy." WB also demanded that Superman undergo a costume change, even ordering Smith to describe the soon-to-be-trashed red and blue duds as being "'90s-style." So Smith was forced to have Superman ditch his red and blues (which he grudgingly deemed "'90s-style" early on in the script and switch over to the black and silver suit from the "death of" story as his permanent gear (ironically mirroring Poirier's earlier script). Peters also hated the FX in the 1978 Superman film with Chris Reeve, so he wanted to get rid of Superman's ability to fly. So Smith tried to get around this by portraying Superman as a red blur while in flight, creating a sonic boom every time he took off (he took this from The Dark Knight Returns). Peters then told Smith to have Brainiac fight polar bears at the Fortress of Solitude, demanding that the film be wall-to-wall action. Smith thought it was a stupid idea, so Peters said, "Then have Brainiac fight Superman's bodyguards!" Smith responded, "Why the hell would Superman need bodyguards?" Peters wouldn't let up, so Smith caved in and had Brainiac fight the polar bears. Then Peters demanded that Brainiac give Luthor a hostile space dog as a gift, arguing that the movie needed a cuddly Chewbacca character that could be turned into a toy. Then, after watching Chasing Amy, Peters liked the gay black character in the film so much that he ordered Smith to make Brainiac's robot servant L-Ron gay, asserting that the film needed a gay R2-D2 with attitude. Then Peters demanded that Superman fight a huge spider at the end of the film, which Smith refused to do--he used a "Thanagarian Snare Beast" instead. (However, Peters did manage to recycle his spider idea and use it in Wild Wild West.)

As if that wasn't enough, WB tried to force Smith to eliminate a critical story sequence where Lois and Clark's relationship hits a standstill during a picnic dinner at Mount Rushmore--the most acclaimed moment in the script--because they thought it ran too long and distracted from the "toys, toys, toys" mentality Peters was aiming for. Smith protested, and the studio finally gave in, allowing the scene to stay. When all was said and done, Smith's script was severely compromised by the time it came to its second draft (and it reads that way, too), but WB liked it enough to give it the green-light. When it came time to cast Superman, Peters wanted to cast Sean Penn, because he "has the eyes of a killer and the charisma of a caged animal," per his performance in Dead Man Walking. But when Nicolas Cage offered his services as either Luthor or Brainiac, Smith pleaded with WB to cast Cage as Superman, feeling that Cage had the gravitas to pull the role off. Peters agreed, for totally different reasons. "Being an outsider and feeling like we don't belong is the essence of Superman," Peters boasted, saying that Cage could play up the alien side of Supes. (In later interviews, Smith changed his story, claiming that he had suggested Cage as Brainiac and that it was Peters' idea to cast Cage as Superman.) Smith tried to get his friend Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Spy Kids) to direct the film, but Peters and WB saw the film as a vehicle for Tim Burton, who they hired shortly after Cage. Burton, having been given almost total creative control, hated Smith's script because it was too faithful to the comics (Burton doesn't read comics, and he always brags about it). So he fired Smith and trashed his script, hiring his Batman Returns crony Wesley Strick to "reinvent" Superman per Burton's vision. All the while during Burton's time on the project, WB promoted it by claiming it was "not the Superman you know." (According to AICN, Akiva Goldsman of Joel Schumacher's Batman films and Spider-Man scripter David Koepp were briefly considered for the job before Strick was chosen.)

So what was Burton's vision? Not much different from Peters', in fact. Burton hated the flying FX in the 1978 film, too, so he didn't want Superman to fly. Instead, he put Superman in a Supermobile. (Seven years later, AICN revealed that Burton and Peters had also planned on having Superman teleport from place to place in lieu of flying.) He also hated the classic costume, too, hence the oddball designs he proffered in its place, all of which would have featured silver-relief versions of the ElectroSupes S-shield and armored, treaded boots similar in design to what Michael Keaton wore as Batman:

1. A partially translucent suit that would allow full view of Superman's internal organs, as reported by Cinescape in late 1997 as Burton's plans for the film kicked into high gear. (Although word from within the Burton camp confirmed that Burton was indeed hoping to do this, the design was apparently never committed to paper--leaving some people following the project wondering if Burton was really going to use the translucent suit or if it was just a hoax. Nevertheless, Burton's diehard fans adored the idea, praising it as total genius and the height of coolness. Superman fans, on the other hand, were left scratching their heads over it.)
2. An all-black, alien-looking suit that would have resembled a "cool cross" between Edward Scissorhands, the WB movie Batman, and a Borg. (At one point, this was what Burton's Superman would have started the film off in.)
3. A metallic silver healing suit/body armor with details that would have made Superman's body look robotic. (An action figure prototype of Nic Cage as Superman wearing body armor was made, but it looked nothing like the design as described and featured the usual red/blue/gold Superman color scheme.)
4. An all-dark blue suit with a "blood-red" cape. (This would have been the standard Superman suit used in subsequent films.)

It was at this point that Lorenzo DiBonaventura, a then-WB exec who was a long-time ally of Peters, joined the production and openly supported everything Burton wanted to do with Superman. It was with DiBonaventura that Burton and Peters had Gilroy rewrite the script completely, mixing and matching elements from the Strick, Goldsman, Bass, and Gilroy drafts into a single script. The end result had Jor-El inventing Brainiac, only to abandon him when Kal-El is born. Brainiac is jealous of Kal-El, so he blows up Krypton. However, Kal-El is sent to Earth, so Brainiac vows to hunt him down and kill him. Jump forward 30 years. Superman--who's been having a full-blown sexual affair with Lois--is forced to reveal his true identity to her when she finds out that Superman's escape rocket landed on the Kent farm. (In this script, the Kents were long dead, and Superman himself had absolutely no clue as to his origins--not even knowing about the existence of the rocket--until Lois found it.) Anyway, Brainiac comes to Earth with a kryptonite-bleeding Doomsday and merges with Lex Luthor--who in this draft was basically portrayed as the Joker in a business suit, and who also found out about Superman's rocket landing in Smallville in this draft--to become "Lexiac." So Lexiac tricks Superman into coming to the LexCorp tower, where Doomsday kills him in combat and runs off. (He never shows up again in this draft.) Then Lexiac seizes control of all the world's nukes and seduces Lois...who's pregnant with Superman's love child!!!!! Meanwhile, Superman is revived by "K," the combined, still-living essence of Jor-El and Lara. Initially powerless upon his rebirth, Superman is told by "K" that all he needs to do is have faith in himself, and so regains his powers by sheer force of will (yes, yes, I know he's supposed to get them back by exposure to sunlight, but bear in mind what we're dealing with here). And so Superman engages Lexiac in combat and saves the world with one second left on the nuclear clock, separating Brainiac and Luthor, who has no idea that he was possessed by Brainiac. And while Lois and Clark are undecided if they want to get married or just live together, all that matters is that they're happy.

1. Krypton doesn't explode. Instead it's a Naboo rip-off overrun by robot soldiers, walking war machines, and civil war (can you say, Star Wars: Episode I?). Jor-El is literally the king of Krypton and leader of the Kryptonian Senate (thus Superman is a prince), and he and Lara send Kal-El to Earth because he is "the One" whom a prophecy states will save Krypton from destruction (rip-off of The Matrix). The villains, Jor-El's evil brother and nephew Kata-Zor and Ty-Zor, take Jor-El prisoner and send probe pods out to find and kill the baby Kal-El. 14 years later, Lara and her shell-less turtle servant Taga (shades of Jar Jar Binks) are found by Ty-Zor, and Lara gets tortured to death.
2. Superman's costume is a living entity housed in a can, and it climbs onto him when he needs it. He first discovers it in a closet when he's 14 (Jor-El visited Earth and picked the Kents out to be Kal-El's new parents, leaving them his picture, some S-shield metal pieces signifying the virtues Kal-El must represent, and the costume), and the costume rips his clothes off and stuffs him into itself. So teen Clark is flying around in a suit that's way too big for him.
3. Lex Luthor is an evil CIA agent obsessed with UFO phenomena. When Superman reveals himself to the world, Luthor demands that the government allow him to hunt Superman down and kill him. The government refuses, so Luthor allies himself with the evil Kryptonians out to kill Kal-El...because Luthor himself is an evil Kryptonian, working undercover as a human to set up an invasion of Earth!
4. All the Kryptonians get into airborne kung-fu fights straight out of The Matrix. Even Luthor gets in on the act at the end of the script.
5. An aerial kung-fu fight between Superman and Ty-Zor results in Superman being lured into a trap: Lois is drowning in a tank filled with kryptonite. (This begs the question of how there can be kryptonite when Krypton didn't even explode, but....) Superman is given a choice: save her and die from radiation poisoning in the act, or stand by and watch her drown. So he goes in, saves her, and dies. Jor-El magically senses Superman's death from across the galaxy, commits hara-kiri with a rock he sharpens in his prison cell, goes to Heaven, and talks Superman into coming back to life so he can fulfill the prophecy of saving Krypton from its civil war. So Superman's soul returns to his body, and he proceeds to trash Ty-Zor and his cronies. And at the end of the film, Superman flies off in a rocket to save Krypton (which is where the second film is planned to take place).
6. A dialogue scene at The Daily Planet implies that Jimmy Olsen--a horny skirt-chaser in the comic books--is gay, as Abrams describes him as "effeminate" and Perry White rags on him for having a boyfriend.


and if that's not bad enough..."I calculated how much this thing's going to cost if it ever gets released (the wasted $50 million in pre-production and $75 million marketing plan have to be included). If this turkey ever gets off the ground, it's going to cost WB $320-390 million to make it"

Fukkin movie industry man


I'm saving this article.

Jon Peters= What an ass hole

Tim Burton= Self rightous prick

That is SO bad I almost have trouble believing its true.

THANK GOD Singer and his gang got ahold of this movie or Id be crying myself to sleep.

It makes all the stuff that people dont like about singers superman seem completely useless.

people should be GLAD that Singer is doing this movie...

Originally posted by ((The_Anomaly))
That is SO bad I almost have trouble believing its true.

THANK GOD Singer and his gang got ahold of this movie or Id be crying myself to sleep.

It makes all the stuff that people dont like about singers superman seem completely useless.

people should be GLAD that Singer is doing this movie...

agreed!

I am

I've participated in threads on here about changes to Superman; I was interested in minor tweaks, that's it. What they were planning...you just shudder. Why do Superman if you want to junk EVERYTHING? Do something else. Ah, but that's the mentality in Hollywood; just make sure you have name recognition for marketing, and do what you like. I see Jon Peters has gone down the tubes as a producer; good riddance. Kudos to those Hollywood people involved for trying to stop the nonsense. Anomaly is right; whatever quibbles we had, we should be thankful Bryan Singer is doing this the right way, after all that crap.

Originally posted by ((The_Anomaly))
That is SO bad I almost have trouble believing its true.

THANK GOD Singer and his gang got ahold of this movie or Id be crying myself to sleep.

It makes all the stuff that people dont like about singers superman seem completely useless.

people should be GLAD that Singer is doing this movie...


Its true. I remember reading all this back in 98 and 99. They were out of ther godamn minds

Thank goodness that Brian Singer, a true fan of the original Superman films, took over the realms and is giving us a true depiction of how Superman should be.

All good movies come to those who wait. All bad movie concepts get flushed down the sewer, except Batman and Robin with Arnold and Clooney. Ugh!!!!!

I don't know if this has been posted before but it seemed like it should go in this thread. Here is a link to some of Tim Burton's Concept Art for Superman Lives.

http://www.bamkapow.com/gallery.phtml?gk=9

why does everything have to be so goddamn dark and moody with Tim Burton? Jesus man get a ****in clue not everything has to be done in that style...the style works for certain movies but now for goddamn everything...Batman '89 and Batman Returns = Awesome movies, Tim's style perfect for the Dark Knight...Edward Scissorhands also an awesome movie because of the dark style....but then he goes and remakes Willy Wonka (and i haven't seen it so i can't really comment on the quality) but when i saw the trailers I was left scratching my head at why it had to be so dark....the more i read this Superman story about Tim Burton and Jon Peters, etc the more and more i really hate Tim Burton...what a ****in retard, i hope whatever his next movie is tanks