Kevin Smith Addresses Writing Unmade Nicolas Cage Superman Film & Reveals Robert Rodriguez Nearly Directed The DC Venture

Just lately, Kevin Smith opened up about whether or not he had any main regrets in his 30-plus years making motion pictures, and his reply was—expectedly—not making Superman Lives. Whereas the DC Universe is affected by scrapped movie and tv initiatives, none are extra notorious. The unmade movie would have starred Nicolas Cage because the Man of Metal, and one of many candidates to direct was Robert Rodriguez. Notably, the movie suffered quite a lot of manufacturing setbacks, together with a number of adjustments in directing and writing employees. This finally affected Smith himself when new mission director Tim Burton selected Wesley Strick to switch him.

Practically three many years later, Smith nonetheless speaks of Superman Lives as an incredible what-if. He defined: “If I might make something that did not occur, occur, I believe it will be that.” He then clarified that he felt this was largely “as a result of [he] did not have the strain of directing the film” himself. Smith described the mix of his writing and Rodriguez’s directing as “an exquisite marriage of fabric.” The Dogma director heaped reward on Rodriguez, calling him “one among [his] technology’s best and absolutely-f*cking-on-point visionary motion administrators.” Smith additionally was not shy concerning the potential this movie had for his profession:

I ain’t saying that is the best script — however dialogue was sharp in that f*cking script. And this was pre-Avengers, , earlier than that grew to become the norm and stuff. So I might have benefited, as a screenwriter man. “Hey, he wrote that!” It in all probability would have opened extra doorways or created extra alternatives. And people issues by no means occur in a silo, so I think about there would have been a pair Supermans, and, even when I did not write the subsequent two, you continue to get a style if it is primarily based in your script.

Moreover, Smith lamented that writing a movie for another person to direct would have been an fascinating change of tempo. He concluded: “All of the strain and accountability would have been Robert’s, and I might have frolicked on set, f*cking scooping it on the Web. I do not ask for a lot. Put me within the motherf*cker. Possibly I might have performed Perry White or one thing like that. I used to be in all probability too younger at that time. I might have performed someone.”

Unquestionably, a Kevin Smith-Robert Rodriguez Superman movie would have been completely different from any big-screen adaptation of the character to this point. His script reportedly included Brainiac, Doomsday, and Lex Luthor in an adaptation of “The Demise of Superman,” a narrative that will later be used within the DCEU. By the point Strick rewrote the script, lots of Smith’s unique concepts have been scrapped, together with his instructed casting. Each the previous and Burton finally departed the mission attributable to clashing with the studio, and it did not safe one other director.

Whereas there’s much more to why Superman Lives did not pan out, and Smith had already been changed by the point it was scrapped, his feedback relating to his profession trajectory stay true. The filmmaker has a following amongst those that get pleasure from his model of stoner comedy and shared universes. Having written a Superman movie inevitably would have made him a extra mainstream screenwriter.

No matter not being made, Smith’s Superman Lives stays an enchanting case of what might have been. He’d initially pitched a lineup of Ben Affleck as Clark Kent/Superman, Linda Fiorentino as Lois Lane, Jack Nicholson as Lex Luthor, Famke Janssen as Mercy Graves, John Mahoney as Perry White, and most bizarrely, Jason Mewes as Jimmy Olsen.

Between Smith’s writing and Rodriguez’s directing, Superman Lives would have been memorable to say the least. Nonetheless, Smith has created a distinct segment fanbase for himself and appears content material, even praising the route James Gunn is taking Superman in for the DCU.