October 11, 2010
Deadline Hollywood’s Nikki Finke reports that the first drafts of the scripts for The Flash and Green Lantern 2 will be turned in “between Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim are writing the script for The Flash based on the story they wrote with Greg Berlanti. I’ve lost track of where Geoff Johns is in all this. At one point he’d written a story treatment that Dan Mazeau was turning into a screenplay, but that version of the movie seems to have been scrapped in favor of the GL trio.
Greg Berlanti has been rumored as a likely director, but Finke’s source thinks it’s unlikely, saying that Berlanti “wants to do something in between [Life As We Know It and The Flash] size-wise first before attempting something that large”
Update: Moviehole reports a rumor that Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) is a leading candidate for the role.
(Hat tip to @SpeedsterSite for spotting the news!)
September 25, 2010
Greg Berlanti recently spoke to SuperHeroHype about the upcoming Flash movie. Berlanti co-wrote the treatment with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green, and it appears that Guggenheim and Green are working on the script.
He describes the tone as “somewhere in between GL and Dark Knight,” and goes on to explain how the CSI aspect of Barry Allen’s character is shaping their approach to the film.
It’s actually a little bit darker than when we were working on (‘GL’), because you’re dealing with somebody who is already a crimefighter in a world of those kinds of criminals and that kind of murder and homicide. I find you talk a lot about different films when you’re working on a film, and we spend a lot more time talking about Se7en or The Silence of the Lambs as we construct that part of Barry’s world, then I thought when we got into it. It helps balance a guy in a red suit who runs really fast.
He also talks about the possibility of dealing with alternate dimensions, fitting the sci-fi and crime parts of the concept together, and taking a “visceral and real and cool” approach to the sci-fi aspects, “more in the tone of The Matrix.”
I don’t know…I appreciate that they’re taking the character seriously and not turning it into a comedy, the way it sounded like Warner Bros. wanted to do when they had Shawn Levy and David Dobkin attached…but at the same time, I’m not sure that Se7en and Silence of the Lambs are the best source of inspiration for a character who is, fundamentally, about speed. I guess it’ll depend on how well they manage to balance things. (Assuming, of course, that this version of the film doesn’t go the way of the Goyer, Levy, Dobkin and Mazaeu versions.)
Read the full interview (well, the Flash parts, anyway, since they’re holding the complete interview until October) at SuperHeroHype.
(Hat tip to Andrew Filipe for sending me the link!)
Update: Berlanti also talks to HeroPlex about the films, adding a few notes about the speed element.
The character, like Hal, I think it’s his time. I feel like in this environment we’re in now, our society is moving quicker and quicker. There are all these ways to connect; there’s an element of our society that feels like it’s on speed, for lack of a better word. There’s something very timely about the story of the Flash at this moment, Barry Allen’s story.
(Hat tip to SpeedsterSite for pointing to the second interview!)
August 2, 2010
At Comic-Con International, Geoff Johns wouldn’t say anything more about the in-production Flash movie than “We’re making one.” It turns out that’s because there just isn’t much news to reveal. In an interview with Collider.com, Greg Berlanti mentioned that they’re “just starting the script.”
I guess that answers the question of whether any of Dan Mazeau’s script was still in play.
The bulk of the interview is about Berlanti’s super-hero family drama, No Ordinary Family, which launches on ABC next month, but he touches on the Green Lantern film as well.
Link spotted on the Comic Bloc forums.
July 24, 2010
ABC ran the entire pilot episode for No Ordinary Family today at Comic-Con, followed by a brief Q&A session with Greg Berlanti, John Harman Felman, and stars Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz. It looks promising.
It’s a little hard to pin down, genre-wise. It’s not a super-hero show, but it has super-powers (and lots of references that comic book readers will catch). It’s not really an action show, though there is some action involved. I’d say it’s primarily a family drama with comedic and action highlights.
On one hand, there is a bit of an Incredibles vibe to it: It’s about a family with super-powers, the father is trying to reclaim his glory days by going out and secretly fighting crime, etc. But it’s different enough not to feel like a retread. For one thing, the powers are new, and it’s set (like Heroes) in a real-world setting that hasn’t seen super-powers before.
The pilot is structured as an interview with flashbacks, first with Jim Powell speaking, then with Stephanie Powell taking over, then switching back and forth. The episode shows the characters and how they relate, then shows each of them discovering their powers, then delves into how those powers affect them. Edit: You do eventually find out who they’re talking to.
Sort of like Freshmen, they all gain powers related to their self-perceived shortcomings.
Read the rest of this entry »
June 9, 2010
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Warner Brothers has hired Greg Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim to write treatments for Green Lantern 2…and The Flash! The trio will then write the screenplay for one of the movies.
Surprising no-one who has read any DC comics during the last two years, the movie “will take inspiration from [Geoff] Johns’ recent work and will feature the Barry Allen incarnation of the character.”*
The three writers have all been involved with the Green Lantern film. Greg Berlanti had been rumored as a possible director for The Flash, and of course Marc Guggenheim wrote the “Full Throttle” story for the comic book Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. Interestingly enough, Berlanti and Guggenheim will be bringing another speedster to the screen — the TV screen — in this fall’s No Ordinary Family.
Presumably this means they’ve abandoned the Dan Mazeau script announced last year. It’s hardly the first time the movie has been sent back to the drawing board in the nearly six years since it was first announced.
News found via The Nerdy Bird!
*Yes, I know that’s a picture of Wally West. THR used the cover for The Flash Secret Files #1 in their article, and I figured I would too just because it looks cool.
May 13, 2010
Remember No Ordinary Family, the TV pilot featuring a super-powered family headed by brick Michael Chiklis and speedster Julie Benz? Deadline Hollywood reports that ABC has picked up the Greg Berlanti-produced show. Marc Guggenheim (Flash: The Fastest Man Alive – Full Throttle) executive-produced the pilot and will remain “in consulting capacity.”
So even if Heroes doesn’t come back, there will still be at least one live-action speedster on the air this fall.
Update: The Hollywood Reporter has more, including the official description of the show (via @SpeedsterSite):
The Powells are about to go from ordinary to extraordinary. After 16 years of marriage, Jim and Stephanie’s relationship lacked the spark it once had, and their family life now consists of balancing work and their two children; leaving little time for family bonding. During a family vacation set up by Jim in an attempt to reconnect, their plane crashes into the Amazon River. But this is where the fun starts for the Powells as they soon discover that something’s not quite right. Each of them now possesses unique and distinct super powers. But saving and savoring their family life will be equally important as they try to find purpose for their new power and embark on a journey to find out what defines and unifies them. The Powells are a totally relatable family that happens to be a little bit amazing.
March 19, 2010
Collider reports from Showest that Warner Bros. plans to use DC superheroes as the new “tent pole” big-event movies, taking the place the Harry Potter films have had for the past decade. Word is that the Flash is up next after Green Lantern, aiming for a 2012 release.
Greg Berlanti, recently rumored to be in the running for director, ducked the question when asked about the film.
Also of interest: Warner Bros. plans to release all of their tentpoles in 3D. I’m not sure how effective 3-D would be for the Flash or his usual Rogues Gallery, but it has some interesting possibilities if they toss in a brief fight with the Folded Man.
The project has been in development hell for years (Warner Bros. announced it in 2004), but with the new DC Entertainment organization, we’re finally starting to see movement.
(via It’s a Dan’s World, SpeedsterSite, and ComicsBlips)
March 3, 2010
ABC has announced casting for the Greg Berlanti television pilot, No Ordinary Family, a drama about a family with super powers. Julie Benz (Dexter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel) and Michael Chiklis (The Shield, Fantastic Four) play the lead couple. While the announcements don’t say what powers Chiklis’ police artist character has, Benz will be playing a scientist who develops super-speed.
If the name Greg Berlanti sounds familiar, IESB pegged him last week as the leading contender to direct The Flash.
Update: I missed the article when I posted this at lunch, but Rich Johnston reviewed a draft of the script last month. He described the script as “patchy,” but “a much more interesting exploration of possibilities of superfiction than The Cape. And leagues ahead of…Heroes.”
February 25, 2010
IESB is reporting that Greg Berlanti, co-writer of the Green Lantern film with Marc Guggenheim and creator/executive producer of such TV series as Eli Stone, Brothers & Sisters, and Everwood, is the “leading contender” to direct The Flash. (via SpeedsterSite)
The Flash is being written by Dan Mazeau from a story by Geoff Johns, who is also attached as a producer.
