Charles Roven Talks WB's 'Brain Trust' & The DCEU's Filmmaker-Driven Approach
We've heard plenty about 'brain trusts' and studio interference on Marvel & Fox's CBMs this year. Batman v Superman producer Charles Roven recently clarified the situation at WB, and explained how the DCEU is run by a more collaborative approach with filmmakers...
Cinematic universes are an essential element of a franchise these days, but in order to maintain the connective tissue between these movies a 'Brain Trust' of sorts is often required to keep filmmakers in line. Both Marvel & Fox have adopted this approach in the past - to mixed results. Meanwhile, much has been made about WB's contrasting 'filmmaker-driven' approach to the DCEU.
However, it seems there is still a brain trust in place at WB - at least, according to Charles Roven. In an interview with Collider, the Batman v Superman producer identified himself, Man Of Steel director Zack Snyder, producer Deborah Snyder, writer Geoff Johns and Warner Bros VP John Berg as the franchise's key creative minds. "There are many times we agree, and there’s many times we don’t agree [and] we work it out," he confessed.
Despite this, Roven was quick to highlight the importance of directors & writers to this process. "The other thing that I really love about what we’re doing is we’re also bringing in really talented other filmmakers and having them come in and create," he claimed. "We've got this sandbox of DC characters, and we are hoping to create—this series of movies that we’ve announced are somewhat interlinked. The characters move at a throughline that hopefully will take us all the way to Justice League 2, but they also can interact in the other films as well in some way."
The producer went on to explain the impact of the universe's interconnectivity on the characters, and maintained that each character's appearance would play a big role in their evolution.
"For example, The Flash movie or the Aquaman film is gonna come out after Justice League, it’s not gonna be a completely different character; that character will have evolved from Justice League. Wonder Woman, when we see her in Justice League, will have evolved from Batman v Superman. Unless we decide that in one of these stories we’re gonna do something that happened in the past and have it be more of an origin story, in which case you’ll realize how that character became what they were in the movie that they were first introduced."
That last statement does seem to hint at a long-rumored historical setting for Gal Gadot's solo Wonder Woman film - making it a prequel of sorts to BvS . Roven concluded the interview by emphasizing that WB's approach to the DCEU was more of a "collaborative" effort between the filmmakers and the studio. "It’s just really a lot of fun if you’ve got really great collaborative minds working together to try to make things better, more interesting, more fun, more provocative."
What do you think of Roven's comments? Are you excited about a more collaborative approach to DC's superhero movies, and would you like to see other studios follow suit? Or do you think CBM directors should be given complete control of their properties? Sound off with your thoughts below!
The DCEU kicks into gear with the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice on March 25.
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