In recent weeks, Warner Brothers has been re-evaluating its strategy concerning films adapted from characters owned by its subsidary, DC Comics. Reportedly, the studio brass have met with editors from the comic book publisher and are probably taking pitches from just about anyone with a Writers Guild card.
One person Warners should talk to about bringing four-color heroes to the big screen is novelist and comics writer Brad Meltzer. At a signing outside of Philadelphia last night for his latest novel, The Book Of Lies, Meltzer indicated that he would be interested in taking a shot at scripting a film for DC’s most famous character, Superman.
I would do it in a heartbeat, the truth is they just haven’t asked. I would love to write their Superman movie but there are greater powers than mine that decide these things. If you know anybody, make a phonecall.
Meltzer would be an interesting and inspired choice to potentially tackle a Superman film. Not only has he writen the character as part of his 2006-2007 13-issue stint relaunching Justice League Of America, his new book uses the death of Superman’s co-creator Jerry Siegel as a plot point. While researching Siegal’s early life, he discovered a few things that may have had a direct influence on the young Cleavland man when he joined with his friend Joe Shuster to create the Man of Steel. Such insights could definitely be used in a new film for a shading and depth similar to that found in Christopher Nolan’s two Batman films.
I used to think he was the hardest character to write. He was really unapproachable to me. Now I have a very different [view]. I wrote a comic called Last Will And Testament which came out a couple of weeks ago and that scene of Clark and Pa Kent sitting on the front porch talking is as close as I can pull down my entire belief of what Superman is. He doesn’t appear in the cape, he doesn’t appear in the costume. He’s just a regular guy like us. That, to me, is the best entry point to the character.
It certainly sounds like a more accessible take for audiences than Singer’s God-amongst-men interpretation we saw in 2006’s Superman Returns. So how about it, Warners? What does it cost to take a meeting?
