Nearly six years after ‘Deadpool 2,’ the self-proclaimed “Marvel Jesus” has returned to the big screen and this time, he brought his BFF Wolverine with him. Real-life BFFs Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman reprise their roles as Deadpool and Wolverine, respectively.
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ finds Wade at a peaceful time of his life, retired from his usual superhero duties. All was well until the TVA came knocking on his door. Agent Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) reveals to him that his entire timeline and everyone he cares about will soon cease to exist due to it losing its “anchor being”. Deadpool travels to various timelines to find a Wolverine to replace the one that was lost in order to save his world.
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Director Shawn Levy (‘Free Guy’) is at the helm for the highly anticipated film. The movie features a slew of familiar Marvel characters, unexpected cameos, visceral fight scenes, and a fantastic soundtrack.
(L to R) Ryan Reynolds, Peggy aka “Dogpool” and Hugh Jackman attend the UK Fan Event of Marvel Studios’ ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ at Eventim Apollo, London on July 11th, 2024. Photo by StillMoving.Net for The Walt Disney Company Limited.
The film premiered at the David H. Hoch Theater in New York City on July 22, 2024. The movie was released domestically on July 26 in formats such as IMAX, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, and 4DX. Initially, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ was set to release on September 6, 2024. However, the film moved up to its July 2024 release date following the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The movie has a total runtime of 2 hours and 8 minutes.
Did you miss it in theaters? You’re in luck! The movie became available for rent or purchase on digital on October 1. You can rent for $24.99 or purchase for $29.99 on platforms such as Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube, Vudu, and more.
After debuting at a staggering $636.6 million domestically, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ surpassed the 2023 box office hit ‘Barbie,’ becoming the 12th highest-grossing film. Globally, the movie has earned over $1.3 billion. It currently holds the record as the highest grossing R-rated movie.
For physical media lovers, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is now available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and 4K Ultra HD. A steel book Blu-Ray edition is also available, and you can pre-order it at retailers such as Target, Walmart, or Amazon.
The Blu-ray and 4K version will include bonus features such as a gag reel, deleted scenes, commentary with director Shawn Levy, and stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, and featurettes such as:
Finding Madonna: Making the Oner
Practical approach: Celebrating the Art of Ray Chan
Watch the official trailer for ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’:
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The official synopsis for ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is below:
Deadpool’s (Ryan Reynolds) peaceful existence comes crashing down when the Time Variance Authority recruits him to help safeguard the multiverse. He soon unites with his would-be pal, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), to complete the mission and save his world from an existential threat.
Who’s In the Cast of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine
(L to R) Dafne Keen, Hugh Jackman, Channing Tatum, Wesley Snipes, Ryan Reynolds and Jennifer Garner in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’. Photo: Marvel Studios.
(L to R) Director Chad Stahelski and Bill Skarsgård as Marquis in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’. Photo Credit: Murray Close.
Preview:
‘John Wick’s Chad Stahelski is aboard to produce ‘The Professionals.’
Stuntman–turned–writer Madison Turner crafted the latest draft of the script.
It’ll follow hired killers who must figure out why they themselves are targets for murder.
If you’re a hired killer in a movie, chances are you’ll either A) try to retire, only for your past to catch up with you, B) discover a terrible conspiracy at the heart of your organization or government and have to go against your own, or C) somehow become a target yourself when you’re double-crossed somehow.
From the sounds of it, the script for ‘The Professionals’ will go the third route, but in a new way.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate has nabbed the rights to the screenplay, which is being described as ‘Clue’ meets ‘John Wick.’ And the latter title is particularly telling, as ‘Wick’ maestro Chad Stahelski has agreed to produce the movie via his 87Eleven company.
(L to R) Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves speak onstage at Comic-Con at San Diego Convention Center on July 22, 2022 in San Diego, California. Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Lionsgate.
‘The Professionals’ –– nothing to do with the 1970s/1980s cop show from the UK (though like ‘The Avengers,’ it could eventually undergo a title shift if it makes it over there) –– follows a group of contract killers stranded in an English countryside estate when one of them is murdered and the remaining group has to solve the death.
The script originated with Hunter Perot, the grandson of late business executive and presidential candidate Ross Perot, and it has now in the hands of Madison Turner, a stuntman–turned–scribe who is the son of Tierre Turner, a stunt performer and coordinator with credits on movies such as ‘Training Day’ and is currently on TV series ‘9-1-1.’
On the writing front, Turner scripted ‘Adam,’ an action vehicle for Anthony Mackie set up at Netflix. And he previously landed his Blacklist script ‘The Liberators’ at Warner Bros. with Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society and Safehouse Pictures attached to produce.
Will Chad Stahelski direct ‘The Professionals’?
(L to R) Director Chad Stahelski, Laurence Fishburne as Bowery King, and Keanu Reeves as John Wick in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4.’ Photo Credit: Murray Close.
Though he’s clearly passionate about the script, Stahelski may not have time on his schedule to actually direct it. And he’s always been about giving others their chance to handle movies.
Right now, he’s gearing up to shoot the remake of ‘Highlander’ with Henry Cavill starring, and while nothing has been formally confirmed (besides Lionsgate mentioning it), he’s developing a fifth ‘John Wick’ outing.
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The ‘Wick’ world also takes up some of Stahelski’s producing time, since he’s the overseer of the franchise as a whole. Next up is the Ana de Armas–starring spin-off ‘Ballerina,’ directed by Len Wiseman and due in theaters on June 6th next year.
When would ‘The Professionals’ be on screen?
With no director in place, no casting and no shoot date, consider this one still in development limbo until cameras are rolling. If it casts up quickly and shoots soon, it could be with us before the end of 2025.
(L-R) Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves attend the Lionsgate CinemaCon presentation in support of ‘John Wick: Chapter Four’ at the Colosseum Theatre in Caesar’s Palace on April 28th, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Eric Charbonneau.
(Left) Henry Cavill in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith (Right) ‘Voltron: Legendary Defender.’ Photo: Netflix.
Preview:
Henry Cavill will star in the ‘Voltron’ live-action movie.
‘Red Notice’s Rawson Marshall Thurber is directing.
It’ll adapt the iconic anime series.
We all know Henry Cavill loves working in genre films and shows. He’s played Superman on the big screen, and on TV, he was the star of ‘The Witcher’ for three seasons.
And in his off-screen life, he’s into plenty of geek-tastic pursuits, including video games and table-top gaming.
Details on Cavill’s role in the movie are unknown for now, but we can imagine him either playing a heroic mentor, or, to change things up, a scheming villain.
‘Voltron’ has its roots in the Japanese sci-fi series ‘Beast King GoLion’ and ‘Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV’.
American production World Events bought the rights for the States, then edited and dubbed the series as a syndicated show, titling it ‘Voltron: Defender of the Universe’, which ran in the mid-1980s.
The premise focused on five young pilots in a battalion named the Robot Lions, which are vehicles that merge to form a mega robot known as Voltron and take on a variety of enemies.
The show in animated form has already been rebooted twice, once for the NickToon channel in 2011, while the current version is on Netflix.
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It’s a compelling concept (one that has been referenced and parodied endlessly since its heyday) and a-live action version has been in development at different terms since the early 2000s.
The plot for the new movie, which Thurber wrote with Ellen Shanman, is a mystery for now, but we can expect a fair amount of giant robot combat. The director has been developing this one since at least 2022.
Who else will appear in ‘Voltron’?
‘Voltron: Legendary Defender.’ Photo: Netflix.
Cavill is not the first person cast in the new movie. He joins Daniel Quinn-Toye, a relative newcomer whose previous screen credit was a tiny role in a BBC sitcom called ‘Badults’ that ran in 2013 and 2014.
But Quinn-Toye has one other job that caught the eye of Thurber and Amazon MGM studios: the 21-year old actor, who attended London’s Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts as well as the Dance School of Scotland, was the understudy to Tom Holland in the ‘Spider-Man’ actor’s big return to the theater world this past spring in the West End production of ‘Romeo & Juliet.’ He also had small roles in the play itself.
When will ‘Voltron’ be on screens?
Amazon MGM Studios has yet to confirm a release date for the movie, though Thurber will kick off production this fall in Australia, so it could conceivably be with us next year. Given the likely post-production/effects workload, however, 2026 would be a more sensible target.
Henry Cavill as Superman in ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.’ Photo: Warner Bros.
(Left) Tom Cruise attends the Abu Dhabi Red Carpet and Premiere of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ presented by Paramount Pictures and Skydance at Emirates Palace Hotel on June 26, 2023, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Photo by Darren Arthur/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures. (Center) Henry Cavill is Agent Argylle in ‘Argylle,’ directed by Matthew Vaughn. (Right) Marion Cotillard in ‘Extrapolations,’ premiering March 17, 2023 on Apple TV+.
Preview:
Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill and Marion Cotillard may star in ‘Broadsword’.
It’s a World War II movie developed by ‘Mission: Impossible’ co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie.
It may shoot before or after Cruise works with Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu.
While Tom Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie are still deep in finishing their latest ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie (for the record, that would be the eighth in the franchise, the follow-up to last year’s ‘Dead Reckoning’ and one that has seen its release date pushed several times for various reasons), they also have one eye on the future and collaborations outside of the world of Ethan Hunt and the IMF.
Once McQuarrie has finished getting the next ‘Mission’ movie in shape for its May 2025 release, it appears he’s ready to switch things up while still having Cruise star.
The filmmaker has been putting together a new script, set in World War II, with ‘Dead Reckoning’/eighth ‘Mission’ co-writer Erik Jendresen, and according to World of Reel, it’s called ‘Broadsword’.
Henry Cavill in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
The new movie is reportedly the story of an S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive, an underground army battling the enemy in Europe and Asia) operation in World War II. It follows a marine captain who crashes in France and becomes the sole survivor. Against all odds, he must complete his mission amidst the chaos of war.
Cavill, of course, has some experience with covert World War II operations thanks to starring in this year’s ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ for director Guy Ritchie. Cotillard, meanwhile appeared in ‘Allied,’ and Cruise in ‘Valkyrie‘, which McQuarrie wrote.
What has McQuarrie said about the movie?
Christopher McQuarrie, writer and director of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.’
Speaking on one of several mammoth Empire Spoiler Special podcasts for the release of ‘Dead Reckoning’, this is what McQuarrie said about the new movie:
“There’s a movie that Cruise and I are talking about doing next or in some probable next, that Erik and I developed together –– what has been referred to on the internet as ‘The Gnarly Movie’. It’s that movie that they’re all asking for, and that we want to do.”
When can we expect ‘Broadsword’ to shoot?
Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
It’s anyone’s guess at this point, though Production Weekly, ‘Broadsword’ will shoot next year. Cruise has been in talks with ‘Birdman’ Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu to star in his next movie, so it’s possible that will happen next, followed by ‘Broadsword’. And if recent chatter from Glen Powell is to be believed, there is a looming (though not immediate) start date for another ‘Top Gun’ movie too in our collective future too.
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‘Broadsword’ will be produced and distributed by Warner Bros. under its recent deal with Cruise, so naturally the studio will want to move on this as soon as possible. Does that mean Ethan Hunt and the team taking a break for a while? It certainly could –– but that means we get the chance to miss their crazy action antics.
And let’s not forget that the next ‘Mission’ movie isn’t too far away after all –– it’ll hit theaters on May 23rd next year.
(L to R) Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
This new movie certainly sees him channeling the tone of those initial efforts, but while that provides plenty of thrills and chuckles to begin with, midway through it seems to decide that is not worth sticking with and becomes something more like ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ (though never reaching the quality levels of that).
Does ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ prove to be a fun mission?
Alan Ritchson in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
It’s something of a mystery when you have a movie that offers Henry Cavill in particular with the most charismatically entertaining character he’s played in a while (with, unlike in ‘Argylle’, the screentime to fully embrace it) but somehow lose confidence in the jokey tone that is established early on.
True, the subject of war, especially in a real-life context, is one to be taken seriously, but that later gear switch grinds noisily midway through the running time. And yes, there are the real people to be considered (a closing credit sequence includes imagery and potted histories of the personalities after the time of the mission portrayed), but the two tones of the movie simply don’t mesh well enough to make the whole work.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’: Script and Direction
Eiza González in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
Ritchie here adapts Damien Lewis (not the actor, different spelling)’s book with the help of Paul Tamasy and Arash Amel, adding his own particular flare to the story of a group of real-life, under-the-radar heroes helped turned the tide of World War II when things were looking their bleakest for the Allied forces.
But, as we’ve said before in this review, the script’s tone takes a dive somewhere around the point that the mission itself starts to go off the rails. It’s as if the characters shrug off their colorful personalities and adopt much blander, generic war movie archetypes instead. Moments of humor do poke through still, and there are obviously moments where the darker tone requires a more serious approach. The movie, though, doesn’t completely recover.
In the director’s chair, Ritchie certainly brings plenty of his usual style to the proceedings, and he frequently gets the best out of his cast in the early going. The movie also looks good, the budget clearly up on the screen in scenes where the team engages with battleships or enters the port that is their main objective.
Yet he still can’t stop his own movie from turning into something that is far less effective in its final third. As the action ramps up (which has its own ticking clock tension, to be sure), the compelling character work fades and some of the interest starts to wane.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’: Performances
Henry Cavill in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
This is most certainly Henry Cavill’s film, and when he’s allowed, he jumps in with both feet. His Gus March-Phillips is a wily, snarky sort, well aware of his reputation even as he’s ready to give his life in service of his country. He’s not above stealing cigars from his superiors or mouthing off to Nazis who are pointing guns at him (and why not?) At full power, he’s the charismatic center of the movie.
But he’s ably supported by the ensemble, especially Alan Ritchson as the hulking Anders Lassen. Right there with Cavill’s character, he’s always ready to enjoy his missions, and dishes out violence like a funnier ‘Reacher‘.
Henry Golding has less to do as explosives expert Freddy Alvarez, but he’s handed some fun chunks of scenes, and Golding makes the most of them. Eiza González, meanwhile, has a better character in the early going, but is soon reduced to either being a femme fatale or a damsel in distress.
From the supporting cast, Babs Olusanmokun stands out as the college educated man of letters who has set himself up as king of the mercenaries in the port where the team has to take out U-boat supply chain. It’s a winning performance and Olusanmokun makes it look effortless.
Elsewhere, Til Schweiger is suitably menacing/ridiculous as BDSM-obsessed Nazi commander Heinrich Luhr (one of the characters who feels very Ritchie-fied with his verbal diarrhea) and Cary Elwes is a suitably eyebrow-raising “M”.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’: Final Thoughts
Cary Elwes in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
Ritchie’s latest release shows signs of the director warring within himself more than the movie itself is about conflict. It’s as if he started out fully intended to make an engaging romp of an action comedy before a side of him worried about what people would think about the historical accuracy might think.
The result is a compromised effort that rather falls between two stools –– but has enough value to make it worth sticking out. Especially if you like Henry Cavill sticking his tongue out as a he shoots a machine gun.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the story of ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’?
Based upon recently declassified files of the British War Department and inspired by true events, ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ is an action-comedy that tells the story of the first-ever special forces organization formed during WWII by U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a small group of military officials including author Ian Fleming.
The top-secret combat unit, composed of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks, goes on a daring mission against the Nazis using entirely unconventional and utterly “ungentlemanly” fighting techniques. Ultimately their audacious approach changed the course of the war and laid the foundation for the British SAS and modern Black Ops warfare.
Who stars in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’?
But then it all seemed as though the “Snyderverse” was struck with a lump of Kryptonite and the films began to stumble.
There was a glimmer of hope for Cavill around the time of ‘Black Adam’s release, when he popped up in a cameo as Supes, hinting at a clash between Dwayne Johnson’s Adam and the last son of Krypton, but the effective closure of that era of the DC movie universe (replaced by James Gunn’s vision, which has David Corenswet starring as another new take on the Superman character), scuttled that.
It was doubly tough for Cavill, who had been given the go-ahead to tease more from his version and had quit successful Netflix fantasy show ‘The Witcher’ to focus on his big screen career.
Now, though, there are refreshed rumors that he might end up in that other big bastion of the superhero genre, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speculation has swirled for a while that Cavill might end up making the leap to Marvel, but nothing concrete has landed so far.
He’s been linked to roles such as Captain Britain (as the name suggests, a UK take on Captain America), which we could see introduced ahead of the next Avengers team up.
The current word comes from scooper MyTimeToShineHello on Twitter, who has shot down the Doom talk but points to Cavill accepting another role.
As always, we’ll have to wait and see whether this becomes anything more than talk.
What else is Henry Cavill working on?
Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s ‘The Witcher.’ Photo: Jay Maidment.
Avowed nerd Cavill has been driving development of a live-action Warhammer 40,000 series set within the sci-fi/fantasy tabletop universe of armored warriors battling creatures at Amazon’s Prime Video service.
While that bubbles away in the background, he appeared in Matthew Vaughn’s spy comedy thriller ‘Argylle’, which though it saw him have limited screen time, has hints at the end that we might see more of his character. The box office disappointment of the movie ($77 million worldwide so far from a reported $200 million budget), even with backers Apple’s deep pockets, would seem to preclude that for now, but we’ll wait and see on that front.
More promisingly, he’s leading the cast of Guy Ritchie’s ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ (due in theaters on April 19th) and his tongue-out moment in the trailer is already generating memes.
And beyond that, he may well pick up a sword again if/when Chad Stahelski’s planned remake of ‘Highlander’ starts shooting.
So even if Cavill doesn’t end up joining the MCU, he does at least have plenty to keep him occupied.
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ opens in theaters on April 19th. Photo Credit: Daniel Smith.
Premiering on Netflix beginning August 31st is the new live-action adaption of the popular manga series ‘One Piece.’ It is based on the highly popular anime and manga, created by Eiichiro Oda. Director Marc Jobst (‘Daredevil’, ‘The Witcher’) helmed the first two episodes and also served as Executive Producer on the series.
What Is The Plot Of ‘One Piece’?
Monkey D. Luffy longs for a life of freedom for as long as he can remember. He is in search of the legendary treasure known as the One Piece and sets out to find a crew to help him on his ultimate quest – to become King of the Pirates. Along the way, Luffy and his crew must outrun the relentless Marines and formidable rivals.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Marc Jobst about the live-action adaptation of the popular anime, what drew him to the project, his love of character-driven stories, and his work on Netflix’s Marvel projects.
‘One Piece’ director Marc Jobst. Photo courtesy of Netflix.
You can read the full interview below or watch our interview by clicking on the video player above.
Moviefone: When you were first brought onto the project, did you feel the need to immediately dive into watching the anime because there’s such extensive lore attached to ‘One Piece’?
Marc Jobst: I really wanted to read and get to the source of this extraordinary story, partly because I absolutely loved Matt (Owens) and Steve (Maeda)’s scripts. I just felt like they were so characterful, and they were so epic, and full of adventure, action-packed, and crazy, and wild, and people chopping up into bits, and all this wonderful crazy stuff. But partly also because what they did in those scripts, and this is what I started with because they sent me the scripts first off, what I loved so much about them, with all those big landscapes and world-building of it all, I loved the fact that there were still these really beautiful little intimate moments between characters, and that’s what drew me into this. I’ve done quite a lot of world-building shows, and they don’t always have from the big to the intimate. Those intimate scenes were also insightful, I felt, about human nature and kindness, actually. So that’s what made me really want to go to the manga and start to read. There is a point at which as a director, you don’t want to become too overburdened. Because I knew Matt Owens, and I’d worked with Matt Owens before, and I knew that he knew everything there was to know, he was a pillar that I could lean on in order to really make sure that I wasn’t veering from the lore in anything that I was proposing to do. I found this when I was doing the Marvel Studios work, sometimes as a director, you just need to see what you see on the page and come to it with a freshness. After all, we were trying to create a show that was fresh, that was additional to the manga and the anime, not in place of.
MF: Aside from being the executive producer, you directed the first two episodes. Can you talk about the process of crafting those initial episodes?
MJ: Yeah, and I’m a character and story man. When I’m sent a script, I’m only really interested in what happens. Who are the characters, what’s their story, what do they want, and what’s their journey? Do I feel like their journey involves some relatable story that as an audience, you can connect with? So when I read those first scripts, that was my first thing, never mind about the crazy world, and the phenomenal characters that exist within it, that’s all lovely. But really if it doesn’t feel to me like we are really exploring character, it’s maybe not my bag of chips. This absolutely did, and that’s what drew me in. So when you ask how do you approach that with the actors, Oda has written phenomenal backstories to these characters. They’re really deep, they’re really profound, they’re really troubled in some respects, first of all. Second of all, they have clear wants. Luffy wants to be king of the pirates, Zoro wants to be the best swordsman in the world, Nami wants to be able to draw a map of the entire universe. All those wants are really clear. So you have a character with a backstory that they bring to life and that they want to achieve something. So what’s the obstacle, and how do they overcome that obstacle, and how do they bring friendships and relationships that enable them to overcome those obstacles? So when I started working with these actors, first of all, the casting process was significant because, obviously, we wanted to travel the world to find the right actors for this. We absolutely knew we wanted the right people, and we wouldn’t stop until we got them. So having done that, and having found these extraordinary people who have heart, primarily they have heart, and they have a beautiful big generous spirit. Number one is what we wanted to cast. Number two, I needed actors who could be physical, who could do a lot of the stunt work themselves, who were excited by doing that, because of the way that I like to shoot action and the way that I wanted the ‘One Piece’ action to look and to feel different from other show’s action. So having done that, then we had four, five weeks of rehearsal together in Cape Town. Bear in mind, these are young actors, so they haven’t all spent a lifetime in front of the camera, or a lifetime acting even. So we went through all the stages that you do when you work with actors, and I’ve spent a life in theater and film. So all that experience I could bring to the floor. We played silly games, and we ate, and we laughed a lot, and we humiliated ourselves in front of each other. We went and did a bit of community work to give something back to the communities in South Africa, and that was a bonding experience for us as a family. So that by the time we got onto the set, we trusted each other. My job then is to create a space in all the technology that goes around a film set, that when they walked onto the floor, that space is for them and for them only, and everybody else serves the actor. That’s just the way that I work as a director. Everything serves the actor because, look, you can have the best sets and visual effects, and sound effects, and special effects, and whizz, bangs, and whistles in the world, but if you don’t believe the person that’s in front of you, you don’t fall in love with a set, you fall in love with a person. So that’s where I wanted to work.
MF: You worked on several IPs that have a lot of action. For ‘One Piece,’ these are characters with special abilities, but they’re not quite typical like your normal comic book characters. Can you talk about crafting the fight scenes and the action scenes, and using these special abilities because they’re quite different?
MJ: Action can get really tedious, and action can get really tiring to watch. Actually, ultimately, it can really affect your enjoyment of a story if it’s not done well and if it’s not done with a purpose. I learned that on ‘Daredevil’, shooting ‘Daredevil’. I was having dinner with some friends in New York when we were prepping the shoot, and this lady said to me, “Oh, I love Daredevil. He’s fantastic. I just fast forward all the action sequences.” You think, “Oh my God, if you’re just fast-forwarding the action sequence, which we spend days preparing, and rehearsing, and talking about, we’re not doing something right.” So to me, action is sometimes a bit like a song in a musical. If you can just take it out and the story still works, it’s not quite working. So action has to, in some form or other, affect character or influence story, number one. So that’s something that I took into ‘The Witcher’ as well. The big sword fight there, I really was very keen that I wanted that first section to be a single shot sword fight to tell the story that this is a badass guy who knows how to wield a sword. By the way, Henry Cavill knows how to wield a sword. That would allow me then, in the second part, to cut the fight up so that I could really control the main event, which was Geralt and Renfri. Then I could stop it and I could get the eye-to-eye contact, and I could get that sense of are they going to kiss or are they going to kill? So if you take that then into ‘One Piece’, what is the tone of the action in ‘One Piece?’ Well, first of all, it’s much more playful, and it’s important to get that playfulness right. Partly you’ve got this guy with rubber arms, and so if you take it too seriously, suddenly you’re going to get this moment of crazy visual effects, which is going to come out of nowhere, and you’re going to think, “Well, that doesn’t quite fit.” So you have to find a tone that fits that. Then second of all, fundamentally, Marvel and ‘Witcher’ were all about the hits, it was all about the punch. So you would make sure that you got this hit and this punch, and so that you could see what was happening, and the sweat coming off the forehead, and the blood coming out of the mouth, and it’s visceral. In ‘One Piece’, to me, it was all about the journey to get to the hit. It was all about the choreography, it was all about the dance. It’s much more ‘Crouching Tiger’ and ‘Kung Fu Hustle’, than it is those gritty, hard Marvel shows, if you see what I mean. So that set the tone for the fight sequences. Then of course, because of the way that I wanted to honor some of the framing of the manga, we developed these special lenses that were made for the show. They’re super wide, but they’re also extremely close focus. So it means that we could do these long sweeping camera shots that didn’t rely constantly on cutting, which is the bit that gets you tired. Added to that, in order to achieve those long sweeping shots, you can’t do that on the day, that’s got to be rehearsed with camera. So the studio, and Netflix, and I, and Steve, and Matt discussed that it would be far better to have a single camera operator purely dedicated, 100% of the time to rehearse with a stunt team. So they’re in the Dojo the whole time, and they learn the choreography of the fight with the camera, and they can also influence the choreography. So they can say, “Look, if you just hold that moment up a beat, I can get my camera around here so we don’t have to do a cut to land the hit.” That was very important to what I hope people enjoy about the action in ‘One Piece’.
MF: Can you talk more about the special lenses you developed for the series and why you like using wide shots for fight sequences?
MJ: The thing about these lenses, the thing about the close focus and the wide is that, this is a travel show. There is no precinct, they don’t end up always coming back to one place. They do come back to the Going Merry, but the Merry’s really only there to take them somewhere else. So location, world-building, have got to be in the DNA of everything that we do. Then you can choose if you want to go really close for those intimate scenes to do that. But all the rest of it felt like to me, we wanted to have location with us all the time because that’s part of what the DNA of the show is. So to have had these lenses that enabled us to work on eight-millimeter, 14-millimeter, 21-millimeter lenses, not only would give the show a completely unique look but was also true to what the manga is.
Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s ‘The Witcher.’ Photo: Jay Maidment.
MF: You’ve worked on so many TV shows. We just mentioned ‘Daredevil’ and ‘The Witcher,’ as well as ‘The Punisher,’ ‘Luke Cage,’ and ‘Hannibal.’ All of these are huge IPs with big fan bases. So what is your approach to projects like that, and is there something that draws you to this genre?
MJ: No, not really. I love story, and I love character, and it goes back to what we said earlier on. If I get a script and I’m drawn in to the arc of the character, if I am fascinated by the world and what it explores, then I’m in. I don’t ever consider myself a genre director. In fact, I’m mostly known for very intense human dramas, particularly in the UK and Europe. Things like ‘Tin Star,’ and ‘Hannibal,’ and ‘Criminal Justice,’ which was then made into ‘The Night Of.’ Those dramas are the things that I started my career in. Then I think it’s just because I approach action shows and genre shows with all those simple questions that you start off when you are learning your craft as a director, which is what’s the story? What do they want? Where do they come from, and who are they? Once you’ve got those elements together, you’re off. Whether it’s a genre show, a superhero show, a fantasy show, or a very intense human kitchen sink drama show, it’s the same thing. What do these people want? It’s one of the things that I work with most on set, what’s the story? What are we really trying to tell you? I know what the journey is, but what’s it about? What is it really about? What’s ‘One Piece’ really about? It’s about believing in your dreams, it’s about believing in yourself, it’s about friendship, being loyal to your friends, and it’s about standing up for what you believe. Great values. We know that. So that becomes the true North with which we set up this whole show. My job as a director is to hold the tiller of our boat, and make sure that we go off in that direction and set sail and reach our end destination. That’s my job. There are plenty of winds that blow around to try and knock the ship off course, all the time, because this is a huge production. But that’s my job. To remind people all the time, and then to say to the actors, “What do you want? What do you want from this scene? What do you want from the story, ultimately? What do you want in your life?” Those are the things that begin to help you to create characters which are three-dimensional, that come from a two-dimensional world.
MF: As you know, Marvel is bringing ‘Daredevil’ back to Disney+ with ‘Daredevil: Born Again,’ which will feature both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio reprising their roles from the Netflix series. What piece of advice would you give to the creators of the new show?
MJ: I feel like if you create too straight a line, it doesn’t feel authentic and real. That’s the great trick of ‘Daredevil’, and that’s the great trick of adapting the Marvel Comics into live action, is don’t take a straight line because human beings aren’t a straight line. If we’re trying to dimensionalize characters as in ‘One Piece’, as in ‘Daredevil’, and as in all these adaptations from 2D into 3D, if you try to take a straight line, it becomes fake. One of the great skills that I think ‘Daredevil’ had, actually, they all had in their own ways, but let’s talk about ‘Daredevil’ because that’s the one that is soonest off the starting blocks, is you have Charlie Cox embodying a real human being in that. Charlie Cox is interested in doing that. Of course, we set it into a superhero world, but if you are going to humanize, if you’re going to dimensionalize, you have to follow that through. It’s a bit like in ‘One Piece’, when a few people have talked to me about, “Oh, it feels much more explicit and bloody than the manga.” I say, “Well, if you’re going to dimensionalize your character, and you’re going to go into proper fights, if you don’t have any of that, you’re not staying true to your intention. That will come across.” So with those superhero shows and with shows like ‘Daredevil’, it’s making sure that you are truthful to the human experience, which is not ever a straight line.
MF: Finally, with ‘One Piece’ having already premiered on Netflix, is there another story from anime or manga that has piqued your interest and that you would like to eventually tell?
MJ: Well, to be honest, it’s been so pretty full on with getting ‘One Piece’ to the starting line, I haven’t really had very much headspace to be open to others. Because mangas and animes are worlds, and you dive into it. I don’t devour manga, I don’t devour anime. I devour story, and I devour character. So I’m just hoping, let’s just see how this goes, let’s just see whether we can make it to the starting line of another series, which would be so incredible. I hope if that happens, I could be involved again. But none of us are holding our breath because you just don’t know in this business. We’ve done the best that we can. We’ve put our heart and soul into it. Everybody, the entire huge 800,000 people on this job have worked so hard on it. Of course, in the end, the proof is in the viewing.
‘One Piece’ director Marc Jobst. Photo courtesy of Netflix.
Director’s Statement: Marc would like to state that he supports both SAG and WGA in their pursuit of reaching a fair and equitable resolution to the respective strikes. In talking about his work – past and present – he does so with unequivocal support for the highly skilled crews that make up the different unions (SAG and WGA included) and believes all should be valued and recompensed for the contributions they make in bringing these series and films to life.
(Left) Chad Stahelski at the Lionsgate CinemaCon presentation in support of ‘John Wick: Chapter Four’ at the Colosseum Theatre in Caesar’s Palace on April 28th, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Eric Charbonneau. (Right) Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod in 1986’s ‘Highlander.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
The idea of rebooting 1986’s ‘Highlander’ is not a new one. It has been bubbling away on Hollywood’s development burner for a few years now, going through the usual litany of directors, writers and potential cast on its difficult journey to screens.
Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod in 1986’s ‘Highlander.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
The 1988 original revolves around Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), a Scottish Highlander born in the 16th Century who is somehow immortal. He has survived through the centuries, and learns from Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez (Sean Connery), that he is part of a race of many who can only die when beheaded. The power of the slain immortal is absorbed into the victor, and they are all competing for “The Prize” –– enough power to rule Earth forever. Connor’s biggest threat is the Kurgan (Clancy Brown), a murderous brute of an immortal who wants that power for himself and Connor must face him at an event known as The Gathering.
“There can,” as the tagline famously reads, “be only one.”
Directed by Russell Mulcahy, the first film is considered a cult classic, dividing audiences into those who love it and those who think it’s so bad it’s great. The movie is famous for its sword fights and its Queen-composed soundtrack.
It spawned several sequels and even a spin-off TV series.
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Stahelski on his plans
(L to R) Director Chad Stahelski and Bill Skarsgård as Marquis in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4.’ Photo Credit: Murray Close.
Here’s what Stahelski had to say:
“‘Highlander,’ I’ll tell you, if we get our shit together and pull off a feature, we have ideas for days about the coolest characters and how to make that an epic TV show. I just think that’s a rich, rich mythology. Our story engages a lot of the same characters and stuff like that. But we’ve also brought in elements of all the TV shows, and we’re trying to do a bit of a prequel, a setup to The Gathering, so we have room to grow the property.”
Yet he adds that he’ll have to be careful:
“The trick is when you have the tagline ‘there can only be one,’ you can’t just kill everybody the first time.”
(L to R) Sean Connery as Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez and Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod in 1986’s ‘Highlander.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
While he loves the original, he’s not above pointing out its flaws…
“There’s not a lot that happens in the second act, It’s mostly about bitchin’ flashbacks with Sean Connery mugging the camera. You watch the movie, and it has no business being good or cool or interesting, but for whatever reason — the fisheye lenses, weird sword fights, fucked up dialogue, and the Queen soundtrack make it one of the funnest movies you’ll ever watch.”
There has been little progress of late on the movie, primarily because of the combined writers and actors’ strike. But once smarter decisions have been made by the studios and the matter is resolved, Stahelski and Cavill will be ready to dive back into that world.
Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s ‘The Witcher.’ Photo: Jay Maidment.
Other Movies and TV Specials Similar to ‘Highlander:’
Zachary Levi attends the World Premiere of ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ in Westwood, CA. Photo: Eric Charbonneau.
Zachary Levi opens up about the superhero film ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ and his future with the franchise. In an interview with The FilmUp Podcast, the actor acknowledges the criticism from movie critics, “I don’t know what the future holds for it all because, unfortunately, the second movie was not well received,” Levi says of the low critics’ score, “The audience score is still quite good, but the critics’ score was very oddly and perplexingly low, and people were insanely unkind.”
Currently, ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ stands at 49% from critics on Rotten Tomoates and an audience score of 86%. For comparison, the 2019 ‘Shazam!’ is certified Fresh on the aggregator site, with a 90% critics’ score and 82% audience score. The film became available on digital less than a month after its theatrical release, grossing $133 million worldwide. The production budget for ‘ Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ was $125 million.
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The actor eludes to reasons why the sequel did not perform as well as its predecessor:
“I think even just the world, from the first movie to the second movie, the world has shifted so much. Social media has shifted so much. Hate, online hate and haters and trolls, and factions and all that has just gotten more galvanized in its toxicity. I think there are people who genuinely, unfortunately, want to destroy certain projects because they don’t like them, or they don’t like me, or they don’t like other people involved in them or whatever.”
Levi questions whether or not he’ll be able to return as Shazam in the new DCU but remains hopeful, “I have no idea where we go from here. I just hope that or believe that history will show… it will be one of those things that people will go back, people will watch ‘Fury of the Gods’ on home streaming or on a plane or whatever, and it will be this movie that they heard so much s**t about and then they will be like, ‘Well, wait a minute.’ ”
Zachary Levi is not the only actor with an uncertain future in the DCU. Fellow actors who held titular characters such as Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, and Dwayne Johnson are unlikely to return to reprise their roles. While certain superheroes have made cameo appearances in recent films such as ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ and ‘The Flash’ it doesn’t cement their return to the DCU since its revamp. We have yet to see a brand-new movie released under the reign of James Gunn and Peter Safran, other than what has been laid out in the initial roadmap promising ‘Superman: Legacy,’ ‘Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,’ ‘Brave and the Bold,’ ‘Swamp Thing,’ and ‘The Authority.’
The three-part original documentary series ‘Superpowered: The DC Story’ premieres July 20th on Max.
Premiering on Max July 20th is the three-part original documentary series ‘Superpowered: The DC Story,’ which examines the history and impact of DC Comics. The series was co-directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks (‘100 Years of Warner Bros.’) and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Mark Catalena (‘Johnny Carson: King of Late Night‘), and was narrated by Rosario Dawson (‘Ahsoka’).
What is ‘Superpowered: The DC Story’ about?
‘Superpowered: The DC Story’ takes an unprecedented look at the enduring and influential legacy of DC, allowing fans to rediscover the universe of characters, as well as the iconic comic book company’s origins, its evolution and its nearly nine-decade cultural impact across every artistic medium. The series features a wealth of interviews with the industry’s most prolific creators and the actors who bring their iconic characters from the page to the screen.
Gal Gadot in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with co-directors Leslie Iwerks and Mark Catalena about their work on ‘Superpowered: The DC Story,’ making it different from past documentaries about DC, focusing on the good and the bad, what they learned that surprised them, the unique structure of the series, fitting the 90-year history into three episodes, assembling the interview and archival footage, and the importance of diversity in comics.
(Left) Co-directors Leslie Iwerks and (Right) co-director Mark Catalena of the three-part original documentary series ‘Superpowered: The DC Story’ which premieres July 20th on Max.
Moviefone: To begin with, there have been several documentaries about the history of DC Comics in the past, how did you approach making this series different from previous DC documentaries?
Leslie Iwerks: So I think when Warner Bros. came to me to do the DC series and also the ‘100 Years of Warner Brothers,’ they were really inspired by ‘The Imagineering Story’ at Disney for Disney+, and said, “We’d love to have you do an approach for DC that’s very similar to what you did for Disney, in that it was warts and all. Tell the story as is. Be honest. Come at it with your own take on DC through time and where the pitfalls were and where the highs were.” We basically had various layers that we weaved in, which was the artist’s story and the personal stories of the artists, but then also the business story, the competition story, the character story, and then the culture story of what’s going on out in the culture that’s influencing these comics and vice versa. So we had to weave those layers like an onion together. Then early on we talked with HBO, and it was important to them and us to basically not tell this in a totally straight chronological way, but be able to flash forward and flashback so that we could remind the audience that this is present, that these characters still live and breathe today in a different form, but this is the beginning of it. So Mark worked with our graphic designer who I thought did a really great take of this time scroller through the years to sort of remind us of, hey, we’re going back. It wasn’t always like this, or here it is today. So it was challenging to always know which one do we flash forward to and why? What’s the theme there and what’s the point of it? It was like a big puzzle.
Mark Catalena: I just wanted to add one thing to what you were saying earlier, Leslie. I think the other organizing principle for us, is that we wanted to come at it from an inspiration point of view. These are people, these are creators, from their point of view, that at some point during their life, they had a revelation, looking at a DC comic, or watching a cartoon. Something hit them hard to make them want to dedicate their lives to working in this industry and then filter that back out through their experience to inspire the next generation. So I think we wanted to really come at it from, why are these people passionate? How are they passionate? Trying to find the emotion that hit them and then dedicated their lives moving forward. We wanted to make it accessible to people. There are a lot of casual fans out there who know this more through maybe cartoons or movies, but it was important to us to say, look, that might be the entry point, but we want to show you where this all came from. We wanted to have them appreciate the source material, like 90 years of comic books. So I think that was one of our main goals, to approach it that way.
Jim Lee in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: It seems like Warner Bros. gave you a lot of freedom to tell the story that you wanted and to be able to include the bad with the good. Was there anything that you discovered that you decided not to include for any reason?
LI: That’s a good question. I think, for the most part, we felt like what we included was the most relevant to the overall story we were trying to tell. Whatever subject we do, whether it be Disney and Imagineering or Warner Brothers and DC, you look at the scope of these histories and you go, there’s so many little dramas and infighting that can happen within an artist or a studio or anything. But you have to pick and choose what are the ones that really are going to matter in the scheme of the entire scope of the storytelling, the years, the span of the years? What are the things that are the big turning points versus just little infighting. Those are the things that the media might like to cover. But for something that’s a real timestamp of history and a piece that’s going to sit on a server on a streaming service for a long time, we want to make sure that we’re really hitting the most important things.
MC: I think the other thing is we wanted to not have story points feel repetitive. A creator and a corporate entity, their relationship and the creative tension, that’s a never ending battle, through any creative industry. So I feel like we’re like, let’s pick the one that’s emblematic of that. Let’s focus on it but we don’t have to hit it every single time it happens because it still happens. I don’t think that’s anything new, and I don’t think that’s necessarily something the audience wants to just keep seeing. It would get boring after a while. So I think we approached every story beat in that way of like, when did it really matter? Let’s focus on that one specific, and that’s emblematic of all of the circumstances, all the occurrences.
Dwayne Johnson in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: The series includes low points in DC history like the poor treatment of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, lack of diversity and representation, and the financial failures of movies like ‘Justice League’ and ‘Black Adam.’ Was there anything that the studio asked you to not include?
MC: Look, I think there are always sensitivities around companies’ histories. I think we just wanted to approach it in a very matter of fact way and not editorialize, and basically just tell the truth, tell it neutrally and move on. I think the larger point that we kept going back to was, look, each one of these story points could have been its own documentary. It’s huge, it’s deep, it’s rabbit holes that you can fall into. We wanted to stay on the level of the scope. I think when you look at it as a whole, there’s only so much time you can really bring things up. So we’re constantly trying to think, okay, what does that add to the larger story? We would’ve liked to include a lot of stuff, but things just naturally fall away when you keep your eye on that big picture.
MF: With over 90-years of comics, movies and TV shows, there’s a lot of history to fit in and it seemed like almost everything DC has ever produced was represented in the series. Can you talk about the challenges of trying to fit everything in?
LI: I think it’s hard to acknowledge everything, and I don’t think you ever can. I think what we try to do is put things in there that are quick, perhaps, if we can’t go into coverage on them. We at least acknowledge them briefly, or they’re in the background or they’re in a montage or something, so that we can at least say we’ve acknowledged it, but we don’t necessarily have to stop, otherwise it would just become a long, rambling story. So again, it is just choosing your battles.
Mark Waid in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: As a comic book fan, I know legendary names like Alex Ross, Mark Waid, and Keith Giffen, but a lot of people watching the series may not. Can you talk about the importance of highlighting the comic book creators with this series?
MC: I agree. They’re not household names. I think a large part of it though was, it’s more about what do they represent, and it’s more of their emotion and passion towards this subject that we wanted to come through. We didn’t necessarily plan to say, you need to know Mark Waid‘s entire resume. That doesn’t matter. We want to know, how does he emotionally feel about Superman, how did it affect him, and then how did he then want to affect others? It was more thematic, I think. I mean, look, talking to some of these folks, it was amazing for me. I’m a lifelong DC fan. But just hearing, I think their passion and their approach, like John Ridley and the Gene Luen Yang, there’s such depth there that was really eye-opening for us. That’s what we wanted to come through. Of course, Jenette Kahn and Karen Berger were huge gets for us. We are really happy to have them. Again, they might not be household names, but what they’ve done, if you look at what the comic industry is today, they started it. I mean, they really steered this entire industry in a direction of, we’re going to take something that was considered disposable kids’ stuff, and we’re going to turn it into legit literature and art that can be appreciated by anybody.
LI: (Jennette Kahn and Karen Berger) created graphic novels. Just the way in which people read and consume this art, the storytelling became more sophisticated, the artwork became more sophisticated. The worlds became different. They sometimes became darker, they became more marginalized characters, you name it. I felt like in that era, they were really pushing the envelope to bring new audiences in, but also relate to people that could relate to this very specific sort of world, if that makes sense.
MF: Can you talk about going through the Warner Bros. and DC Comics archives and finding the interviews and footage that you needed for this series?
LI: I think that a big shout-out goes to the archive team and Warner Bros. who would help us to put together material or find material that hadn’t been seen before. But it was Mark and the producers working in tandem every single day to find these gems that hadn’t been seen before. A lot of stuff were old interviews that had to get transcribed and then we would go through and say, what’s the most unique bite that no one’s ever heard before? That’s what we do in the beginning, is just really going through the transcripts and these old archival things and trying to find the gems. Again, the gift of working with Warner Brothers and DC was, they were all equally excited as we were to get as much new cool stuff that no one’s ever seen before.
Robert Pattinson in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: The series even includes footage of Bob Kane admitting that he co-created Batman with Bill Finger, something that Kane had long denied and took sole credit for. Where did you find that?
MC: Yeah, I agree. When we saw it, we were like, wait, what? Oh my gosh, this is amazing, and kind of refutes the common knowledge in the world that he never acknowledged Bill. This is amazing. So yeah, there were things like that. Even just the old Joe Kubert, Julius Schwartz and Carmine Infantino interviews that we found. Apparently some guy at a Comic-Con just took them in a room and started filming them. It was amazing because we don’t really hear their voices anymore. So finding that stuff was really cool. I would just say also, with all the photos of the old DC offices and how they worked, that was really fun.
LI: I think also for us, we really want to bring you into that world as tangibly as we can. We want you to see the space. We want you to feel what it was like in that office. We want you to know that it was hot and it was tough, and they were struggling, and it was a man’s world, and there was one woman in there. You know what I mean? It’s like, we want you to feel that. So the more we can find those photos and bring that world to you, the better. The other thing too is, a lot of those old archival interviews obviously don’t look good, so that’s always a struggle. You don’t want to have a really low res, blurry image. So we worked with the graphic team to put them into kind of a comic book frame so that it looked more interesting. So I think that’s something Mark and I, and everyone are always trying to innovate documentaries, are always trying to say, how can we innovate graphically? How can we take the documentary form and push the boundaries and tell every new story differently with pacing, with graphics, with music, with shape, and with structure? We’re excited about always trying to be innovative.
MC: Humor as well, and look, this is a colorful subject. We want it to be fun. We want it to be fast and fun and humorous at times. But that’s kind of our approach.
James Gunn in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: There have been a lot of changes recently at DC Studios with James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over. Gunn appears in the series but there is no mention of future projects like ‘Superman: Legacy.’ At what point did you have to lock the series and were unable to include any new announcements?
MC: I think it was August or September of last year. So it was before the big news of James Gunn taking over and everything. But Jim Lee loved that. He was like, look, we’ve done this. It’s a nice chapter break. Now, there’s going to be a new regime. It’s going to be a new path going forward. That’s a story that’s yet to be told. So yeah, he didn’t mind. I think it is exciting, though, that it’s not a stagnant thing. They’re always trying to innovate. They’re always trying to push, and yeah, it’s a moving target.
MF: DC Comics is more than just Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, it has also included Vertigo, WildStorm, and Milestone comics. Can you talk about highlighting all of those companies in this series, in particular Milestone?
LI: I think that it was very important and timely for Milestone to have a resurgence when it did. When you look back at the original Milestone, that was the biggest comic book sales by Black creators ever. There’s obviously an opportunity to reinvent that, to bring that back, and especially at a time when Black people’s stories needed to be told, and needed to be heard. I think that the more we bring these stories out and make them honest, truthful and relevant to our own lives, then that’s how these comic books formed from the beginning. It’s in the DNA of DC Comics. So I think that it’s exciting to see these different variations, so to speak, of storylines and characters continue to be successful.
Denis Cowan in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: Leslie, were you a comic book fan before making this series and what did you learn about DC Comics that surprised you?
LI: I didn’t necessarily grow up as a DC aficionado. But I think that to me, I grew up around artists. My family, my grandfather and father are both artists. And myself, I’m an artist. So to me, reading these was inspiring, just from the artistic and story standpoint. But I never really followed the story arcs of these characters necessarily. I did grow up on the ‘Wonder Woman’ Show, though, as silly as that sounds and dates me a bit. But I love the ‘Wonder Woman’ TV show, and I watched the ‘Batman’ show. Those are sort of the campy era when I was a kid watching those. I think it was just, to me, again, the stories that I love to tell are stories about innovators, bold business people and creators who want to push the envelope in the genre that they’re working in. In this case, DC was pushing the envelope and completely reinventing itself time and time again, and finding new ways to keep their characters relevant and fresh. To me, that’s a great business story. It’s a great creative story, and those are the kinds of stories that I like to tell.
Lynda Carter in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: Finally, Mark, as a comic book fan what did you learn about DC Comics that surprised you, and who is your favorite DC character?
MC: Well, I guess what I didn’t know is that it was surprising to me that, for so long, that the creators weren’t respected. There was a stigma against it. There was a shame associated with it. Then on the fan side, of course, there’s a stigma of having liked these characters. I mean, there’s growing up with, you’re a nerd if you like this stuff and whatever. Because I don’t think people understand now what that was like. It was very much in the shadows. It was very much a secret, and now it’s mainstream. It’s out in the open. So that was a big eyeopener for me, just to hear it from the creators themselves. My favorite character? There’s so many. I don’t want to be boring and say Batman, but I would think that’s probably the one. It’s just something about the fact that this is a real person. We always were like, why do these things endure, right? Why have there been thousands of stories about this one character over 85 years? It’s like, well, he doesn’t necessarily have a superpower. He’s a human. I feel like it’s the humanity that people connect with. So I think, above all else, that’s why these things touch so many people. But man, I have tons of favorites.
Margot Robbie in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
