SUNDAY 17th

SELUTRON UPDATE

Hello there, Dharmesh here, sorry about the lack of updates but I've been --still am -- busy on a number of non-Superman ventures. Anyway, Selutron decided to write something to plug the gap on the current atmosphere in America (plug your ears, Republicans!) and his visit to Warner Bros. for us:

Star Trek alive, Superman dormant.

Over at Paramount Pictures, studio executives are no doubt rubbing their hands with glee as the newly rebooted Star Trek franchise emerges refreshed from its much-needed self-induced coma. And while not everyone might accept the kind of comparisons offered by a recent Newsweek article regarding the effects of the times and US presidents on Hollywood product (also see this interesting Chicago Tribune article) suffice to say Trek has been rebooted at a moment when America is beginning to feel better about itself and an undeniably intelligent, somewhat dorky Trekkie resides in the White House. That is right - President Obama is a Star Trek fan, and according to Politico, he has requested a private screening of the new Star Trek movie at the White House.

By the way, if any more proof were needed of Obama as the Commandork-in-Chief, take this excerpt from another Newsweek story published at the end of 2008: "That's an interesting belt buckle," [Barack Obama] said to Michelle, mischievously. She feigned offense and said, "I am interesting, next to you. Surprise, surprise, a blue suit, a white shirt and a tie." Obama grinned and bent down until he was almost at eye level with her waist. He jabbed a playful finger toward her belt buckle, and let loose his inner nerd. "The lithium crystals! Beam me up, Scotty!" Obama squeaked, laughing at his own lame joke as Michelle rolled her eyes.

Thus, as Star Trek, a franchise that seemed only a few years ago to be sinking under the "moribund aesthetics" of its former guardian has come out refreshed and revitalised and with no less of an advocate than the President of the United States of America. Add to that the increased box-office receipts that economic doldrums invariably bring (people want escapism more than ever), the continued popularity of science-fiction and comic book adaptations and it isn't long before one arrives at a very simple question: Where is Superman?

2006's "Superman Returns" and the accompanying "Year of Superman" arguably came a bit too early for this new wave of American optimism in the midst of despair. But one thing seems almost certain - the Star Trek box-office receipts will have some having a fresh look at the boy in blue's cinematic viability. And why not?

In his 1978 review of "Superman", Roger Ebert argued that the film was a "wondrous combination of all the old-fashioned things we never really get tired of: adventure and romance, heroes and villains, earthshaking special effects, and -- you know what else? Wit. That surprised me more than anything: That this big-budget epic, which was half a decade making its way to the screen, would turn out to have an intelligent sense of humor about itself."

Things we never get tired of, though depending on the times often forget we miss or need to celebrate. As any fan of late seventies sci-fi films - "Superman" included - or eighties children's flicks like "Flight of the Navigator" or Richard Donner's "The Goonies" will tell you, hope, magic and even corny uplifting slices of American mythology are a welcome and even necessary counterbalance to our penchant for darkness, realism and horror. And while films like "Three Days of the Condor" or "JFK" might espouse the dirtier, "truer" underbelly of the American politics that belie the ideals of the American Dream, films like "Dave" or "The American President" (and its de facto spin-off "The West Wing") show us what the ideal should or could be.

Here too, the times can play a role - third season, the liberal optimism (and also the somewhat legislative timidity) espoused by the fictional President Bartlett in Aaron Sorkin's "The West Wing" was delivered a near knockout blow by the real life horrors of 9/11 and the subsequent rightward shift in American politics. The forward-looking animated show "Futurama" was (is? - a third lease of life may be announced in a matter of weeks) undeniably an Al Gore kind of show, and came into being when "new millennium" seemed to actually mean something. Its demise too seemed fated by contemporary events, which proved to be more medieval (2001, Taleban, Al-Qaeda and 2001: A Space Odyssey - what a contrast) than forward-looking. And in 1978, "Superman" came at precisely the time when audiences had had enough of dark auter movies bringing them down - and those movies had themselves come into being when audiences had had enough of sickly sterile early sixties movies pumped out by studios back then. The pendulum seems to swing…

And now, considering where America is at after eight years of Bush, 9/11, torture, recession, near bankruptcy etc…a golden moment underlined by Obama's election (or the end of the Bush era) would appear to signal a defining shift in perceptions that almost demands a "Super" cinematic response, one as unashamedly bright as the Batman film series is delightfully dark. In other words, as Americans begin to feel more proud of their country again, the mythological aspect of America, one exemplified by Superman, can unashamedly re-emerge in a way that might have made people want to puke only a few years ago.

Star Trek got lucky in that it seems to have anticipated the moment. Would a dark, morose Trek have succeeded in 2009? But what next for the Man of Steel? Some might argue that Superman is pretty much where Star Trek was a couple of years ago: feeling a bit worn out and weighed down by the past rather than looking to the future. Some of the arguments circled in the media after the release of "Superman Returns" along the lines of "is the Superman character even interesting?" no doubt only added to that sense of malaise. By the way, since when is a superhuman alien who flies around in blue tights and tries to seduce the woman of his dreams not by revealing his true identity but under the guise of a dork called Clark Kent not interesting? The guy has two fathers, two, maybe even three identities - Freud would have a field day with Kal-El! But anyway, if the retooled Star Trek has underlined anything, it is that an eternal, mythical franchise, so long as it is bold and fresh, will attract audiences again and again.

So should we look forward to a new, rebooted Superman at some point soon? It seems more likely. On a related note, a few months ago I had a very positive meeting with two folks from Warner Home Video. I was there to make an in-person (this time) pitch for a Christopher Reeve "Superman Part I & II" ultimate epic DVD/ Blu-Ray release that might accompany any new Superman film. I was armed with the clips I had put together and a whole host of other materials and tried my best to underline precisely that new sense of "Americana" that this release could tap into. "Uplifting…Brando, Hackman, the Statue of Liberty…finishing the last 1970s epic that could stand alongside Star Wars…etc…etc," I raved enthusiastically, along with trying my best to show how fresh and exciting a release like this would be. They listened patiently, and dare I say with keen interest. During the "opening sequence" clip and several others, I talked as the snippets played explaining plot points and how I thought everything could now be tied up into a nice neat little two-part bundle. The final clip we watched was the proposed ending "You didn't post this on the internet, did you?" they asked a bit worried - "No, this is one of the selling points! This is a secret." I reassured them.
Anyway, I came away feeling very confident, at least by the excitement I felt that those in the room had expressed towards the proposal. Sometimes a bit of confidence is all you need to make what seems impossible become possible.

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Thanks for the update, Selutron, I just wanted to finish with this: I'm very much in favour of rebooting Superman, as long as it attacks the material with fresh ideas that can be fused with the familiar trappings of the comic. To a certain extent I wish it'd go back to the lighter, more fun aspects of the Salkind era, I'm growing tired of these big films wallowing in their own misery. I do miss the late 70s and 80s, because the films were more upbeat, even Bond wasn't so shaded in black, and that includes the two Dalton films. The box-office proves that the audience today wants to escape the doom and gloom of the real world. But, anyway, I think it's a good idea to keep Superman dormant for the time being, because its next flight will be critical and I want it to be the best it can be, and sometimes we have to wait until the right combination of writers, producers and a director are working together - a happy accident, if you will.