David Goyer On How Much He Listens To Comic Book Fan's Reactions
The man most known for bringing DC Comics legends Batman and Superman to the big screen explains how he wants to give the fans "what they don’t even know they want." Hit the jump.
There are many moments in comic book movies that have fans divided. Many fans believe that the studios should listen to the fans more often, but how much do we know the studio actually listens to us, and do they even care? Well, David S. Goyer, who helped reinvent two of the greatest and most dearest comic characters of all time, Batman and Superman, explained how the fan expectations may or may not influence his writing. He says that "you’re dealing with an incredibly vocal but incredibly tiny sort of [group]. That’s a mistake that I think a lot of sometimes networks and movie studios make is sort of listening too much to [them]. I mean, it’s important to listen to the fan chatter but you’re really talking about a tiny, tiny, tiny portion of your audience that may not be representative of what your mainstream audience actually thinks or feels." He goes on to discuss the fans who feel some things should be done a certain way when it comes to bringing their favorite comic book characters to life on the big screen. He says, "I’m paraphrasing Steve Jobs, it’s like you don’t give the audience or the consumer what they want, you give them what they don’t even know they want. I mean, being involved in some of these comic book movies and stuff like that, people say, well, this is what they should do. And trust me, if we had just done exactly that I don’t think the audiences would have been completely happy. I mean that’s not to say that filmmakers can’t misfire, but if you try to just do what you think the fan community wants you’ll drive yourself crazy and you won’t actually write anything."
Goyer is perhaps most known for his work on Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, but he also adapted comic characters such as Superman, Ghost Rider, the Crow, and Blade. A lot of what he did came straight from, or was inspired by, the comics. But he also made a few controversial changes here and there. What do you think of his comments? Sound off in the usual spot.