J.J. Abrams turned his script in for Superman: Flyby in 2002. At that time, the biggest draw to his name was the television drama, Felicity. Fast forward to 2013 and Abrams has a proven track record and shown that he has a flair for injecting new life into older film franchises with Mission Impossible, Star Trek and is now setting his sights on Star Wars. 'Flyby', like Man of Steel, was going to feature a Krypton at war and a Kryptonian villain who plagues Clark Kent on Earth. Below, Abrams talks a bit about what his Superman film would have explored and briefly shares his thoughts on Man of Steel.
"The thing that I tried to emphasize 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 realized 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.”
It's a little mind-boggling to think that somewhere at Warner Bros. there's a vault with a Superman script from J.J. Abrams and a Wonder Woman script from Joss Whedon. I guess if you're a young, up and coming director who gets commissioned by WB to writer a script for a superhero movie that ultimately doesn't get made....you should consider yourself on the right career path.
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Running Time: In post-production
Release Date: 14 June 2013 (USA)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Starring: Henry Cavill, Michael Shannon, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner,Russell Crowe, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Meloni, Richard Schiff, Harry Lennix
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Written by: Christopher Nolan (story), David S. Goyer screenplay)
Man of Steel follows the Last Son of Krypton on his epic journey to become mankind's shinning beacon of hope for a brighter future. With the beliefs and values instilled by his adoptive parents Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane) Kent, a young Clark (Henry Cavill) sets out to find his place in the world. But when the nefarious General Zodd (Michael Shannon) arrives on Earth, Clark will have to choose between being a normal human or Kal-el,son of Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and humanity's greatest protector and champion. Filmed in IMAX and shot in Vancouver, Chicago and Plano, Illinois, Man of Steel will be released on June 14, 2013 by Warner Bros. Directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) with a screenplay by David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) the Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception) produced feature film will surely be the summer blockbuster of 2013.
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