Dark news for those of you clamouring to hear John Williams' iconic theme as Henry Cavill soars over Metropolis: speaking with the LA Times' Hero Complex blog, new Superman** director Zack Snyder has confirmed his intention to thoroughly break with Kal-El's movie past. "We'll respect the Superman canon," he says, "but we won't be a slave to the movies."
Bryan Singer's 2006 Superman Returns was divisive in its desire to continue what had gone before, rather than exactly start afresh. From the Williams music to the Christopher Reeve-style costume to the use of Marlon Brando footage, and with a plot that acknowledged the years since the previous films, Returns was as much a respectful homage to 70s Supes as a new beginning. Some audiences felt it suffered as a result, and there's an implicit criticism of that approach - and perhaps of Returns' perceived lack of super-action - in Snyder's stall-setting: "We're not afraid of that at all. Our Superman's got things to figure out, but he's a real physical cat."
Unsurprisingly, given the creative involvement of one Christopher Nolan, Snyder is looking to the recent Batman films as inspiration."Literally, the one thing that everyone can start to think about is that we’re making a movie that finally goes with the approach that there’s been no other Superman movies,” he explains. "Batman Begins has that structure, that canon that we know about and respect, but on the other hand there’s this approach that pre-supposes that there haven’t been any other movies. In every aspect of design and of story, [our Superman] is very much from that perspective.”
He says the new costume will be revealed soon to preempt leaks from on-set when shooting starts, but he's understandably cagey about further details. We still don't know if The Man of Steel is definitely the subtitle, and despite reports of potential casting in the forms of Kevin Costner, Viggo Mortensen, Ros PIke, Alice Eve and Diane Kruger, the only confirmed stars remain Cavill as Clark Kent and Diane Lane as his adoptive mother Martha.
"We're in virgin territory," Snyder enthuses. "In some ways Superman is the most recognizable superhero on the planet but also the most unknown. Just what can he be? People have preconceived ideas about him but probably all of them are wrong."
Filming gets underway in late August for a December 2012 release. Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch is out in the UK on April 1.