Watch: The History Of JJ Abrams' Abandoned Superman Movie ‘Superman Flyby’
In 2002 Warner Bros was developing a new Superman movie with then screenwriterJJ AbramscalledSuperman: Flyby, withBrett Ratnerhired to direct. Abrams' screenplay for the film would have reinvented Superman, incorporating a bunch of new ideas that angered fans when a negative script review was posted on the internet. The film was abandoned and never went into production. Mr. Sunday Movies has created a video essay giving the complete history of Superman Flyby. Watch that now after the jump.
The following Mr. Sunday Movies video essay on the history of Superman Flyby was found onIo9:
Brett Ratnerwas originally hired to direct in September 2002, and film production was scheduled to begin in late 2003. Here are some of the plot details fromWikipedia:
ScreenwriterJJ Abramshasdescribedhis vision for Clark Kent and the character’s transition from alien child into a hero:
“The thing that I tried to emphasise in the story was that if the Kents found this boy, Kal-El, who had the power that he did, he would have most likely killed them both in short order. And the idea that these parents would see – if they were lucky to survive long enough – that they had to immediately begin teaching this kid to limit himself and to not be so fast, not be so strong, not be so powerful. The result of that, psychologically, would be fear of oneself, self-doubt and being ashamed of what you were capable of. Extrapolating that to adulthood became a fascinating psychological profile of someone who was not pretending to be Clark Kent, but who was Clark Kent. Who had become that kind of a character who is not able or willing to accept who he was and what his destiny was. The idea in the movie was that he became Superman because he realised he had to finally own his strength and what he’d always been. I don’t know if that’s what Zack and Chris [Nolan] are doing, but it looks like that’s part of the idea and I could not be more thrilled to see that movie. That to me was always the way to go.”
The full script isavailable online. As for casting,Josh HartnettandJude Law,Paul Walker, Ashton Kutcher, Brendan Fraser, David Boreanaz, Victor Webster, James MarsdenandMatthew Bomerwere all reportedly approached for the role. Ratner wanted two of hisRed Dragoncast membersAnthony HopkinsandRalph Fiennescast as Jor-El and Lex Luthor,Christopher Walkenwas in talks to play Perry White andJoel Edgertonauditioned for Ty-Zor.
In the end, Ratner dropped out of the project in March 2003 blaming casting difficulties and claimed disagreements with producerJon Peters. Screenwriter JJ Abrams lobbied to direct based on his own script but Warner Bros instead hiredMcG, who commissionedJosh Schwartzto rewrite the Abrams script.which might have seenRobert Downey Jras Lex Luthor andSelma Blair or Scarlett Johanssonas Lois Lane.
McGeventually dropped out of the project over a disagreement over shooting location. He wanted to shoot in North America, which would have cost about $25 million more than Warner Bros' preferred Australian shoot. McG publicly said that “it was inappropriate to try to capture the heart of America on another continent”, but later admitted his fear of flying was really to blame.
And we all know what happened in the end, Warner Bros hiredBryan Singerand the resulting completely reimagined film was titledSuperman Returns.
