Last year, I posted
Superman Lives concept art that was illustrated by Rolf Mohr. What I didn't realize until now is that the artist saw my article and shared a link to it on his blog along with more information regarding that infamous project. When
Superman Lives went into pre-production Rolf was working for Hasbro's "Special Projects" division, not Warner Bros.. Rolf explains, "
They (Hasbro) would collaborate with the studios developing art, story ideas, building maquettes etc. as speculative bids to try and land the merchandising rights."
Rolf on
Superman Lives:
For Superman Lives I was working mostly in the dark based on vague descriptions without seeing a script. At the time it all sounded rather crazy and confusing, with Brainiac's Skull Ship that could absorb anything it came across, Brainiac himself inside some sort of alien shape-shifting 'hybrid technology' which would open up and engulf people and grow ever larger, more limbs, etc, then Superman also had alien tech in the form of the Eradicator, which could become a suit as well as transform into an 'Interceptor' ship... A giant biomechanical alien spider thing which had a body that could open up and smaller ones came out, etc, etc...
At the time I had no idea who had written it or that Tim Burton was on board to direct, but they told me Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman were being considered for Brainiac. It was interesting to read the script years later and see that Kevin Smith had actually done a pretty impressive job by introducing the Eradicator as a transforming suit in order to weave together all the requirements the producer wanted: "No Superman suit, no flying... and a giant spider in the 3rd act." He even managed to include 2 polar bears. - Rolf Mohr
Uh-oh,
filmmaker Jon Schnepp might have to update his Kickstarter-funded documentary, "The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?" as I don't believe anyone has ever reported Jim Carrey ("Cable Guy") or Gary Oldman ("True Romance") as being in the mix for Brainiac. The only real actor that I've seen attached to the part has been Tim Allen ("Galaxy Quest"). The rest of the cast would've been Nic Cage as Superman, Courtney Cox as Lois Lane, Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor.
Check out the trailer for "The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?" which features some concept art for Brainiac. He would've been a big head with spider legs. Isn't that neat? No, no it's not.
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