So it's
Watchmen'sZack Snyder who
has been hand-picked by producer Chris Nolan to direct '
Superman: The Man of Steel'. I have to say,
I didn't see that coming! My initial reaction is that producer
Chris Nolan must not be as creatively hands-on with his 'Godfathering' role on the Warner Brothers reboot as we previously thought. I can't imagine him and Snyder sharing ANYTHING in common, it's clear from their respective CV's that they don't share the same philosophies on movies. Nolan's Batman universe is a million miles away from Snyder's crack-acid, overly stylised, overly violent, juvenile, slo-mo special effects driven, homoerotic and gimmick filled emotionless tentpoles. I can't imagine Nolan even made it to the end credits on '300' or 'Watchmen'. His forthcoming 'Sucker Punch' certainly isn't anything we would associate with the much-lauded British director of 'Inception' and 'The Dark Knight'. This hiring is obviously from the "Warner Bros. recruitment line" where Snyder is clearly their second-in-command helmer after Nolan, and was at one point seen as the inevitable replacement to Nolan himself on the Batman franchise. I would say the probability of that has increased ten fold with this appointment.
I expect Snyder's 'Superman: The Man of Steel' to be a visual orgy but one set in a universe that carries no substance beyond the service level. I'm dying to read
Jonathan Nolan and
David Goyer's screenplay before Snyder fetishises the property, that much is true. Snyder isn't particularly a bad director, I just don't want to see him do to Superman what he did to Watchmen, that's all. Snyder told
Coming Soon less than 30 minutes after the news broke tonight;
"I've been a big fan of the character for a long time, he's definitely the king of all superheroes, he's the one. It's early yet, but I can tell you that what David and Chris have done with the story so far definitely has given me a great insight into a way to make him feel modern. I've always felt he was kind of awesome. I'll finish 'Sucker Punch' and get right at it".
Last we heard, Warner Bros. were aiming for a Dec. 2012 release, the same ballparks as Peter Jackson hopes to release '
The Hobbit' and the same year we will get '
Batman 3', '
The Avengers', and a '
Spider-Man' reboot. WOW.