TRUTH,
JUSTICE and the FANATICAL WAY (a fanboy anticipates SUPERMAN RETURNS)
PART TWO: PREP WORK
In their wildest dreams, movie studio publicists of the past couldn’t
have predicted that technology would one day practically do their
jobs for them.
Thanks to the internet, all it takes to get millions of people buzzing
about an event film is to put out one photo far in advance of the
film’s release. Last summer, Warner Bros. released a promotional
shot of Brandon Routh as Superman posing against an art deco background.
Almost instantly, this first Superman
Returns image was copied and pasted into a thousand
websites, forcing a fury of speculation about the fate of the entire
film.
With no other information available, fanboys debated and dissected
the photo like the Zapruder film. The most common complaints (most
of which I shared) were that the colors of the tweaked uniform were
too dark, the bright primary crimson of Superman’s cape, boots,
shorts and ‘S’ shield dimmed to a subtle maroon. The
‘S’ itself became a controversy, with its raised relief
and small size. The shirt’s neckline was deemed by many to
be too high. Superfluous ‘S’ logos were added to Kal’s
belt and the heels and soles of his boots (?) while the yellow version
of the design that customarily adorns his cape was excised (presumably
because it would prove too time consuming to animate digitally).
I was also a bit befuddled by Superman’s BROWN hair (instead
of the traditional blue-black) and that it’s parted on the
wrong side; In order for the trademark S-shaped spitcurl to fall
onto his forehead, Superman’s hair needs to be parted on the
LEFT. In the movie, it’s on the right.
This, friends, is what’s called kryptonitpicking.
Soon, there was more information coming. On Bluetights.net,
director Bryan Singer took a page from his pal Peter Jackson and
instituted a series of online video journals documenting the production
of Superman Returns.
Jackson’s weekly
online King Kong production diaries delved
into the making of that blockbuster so deeply that they were released
as a DVD set that’s even longer than the 3-hour movie! Add
to that the POST-production diaries that are a bonus feature on
the actual Kong DVD and you have enough pre-release
“making of” content to choke a dinosaur.
While Jackson was careful to not show any completed scenes in his
diaries, to keep as much mystery to the film as possible, it’s
undeniable that many who faithfully watched them weren’t exactly
going into Kong in a fog.
Singer’s Bluetights blogs featured the usual behind-the-scenes
stuff: storyboarding, costume and set design, special effects and
witty (sometimes) banter from the cast and crew. But after 27 installments,
for reasons unexplained, the postings abruptly stopped. Rumors circulated
that Singer was tired of having every single move he made questioned
by the fans. A late installment filmed at a Q&A session at the
San Diego Comic-Con last summer featured a visibly annoyed Singer
defending his Superman’s costume for the umpteenth time.
I had mixed feelings about the blogs stopping. I was disappointed
because I had been gobbling up the information. But I was more than
a little relieved for the same reason. In theory, I want to know
as little as possible when I finally see the movie, but in practice,
I’m too much of a fanboy to ignore any beefy chunks of content
available online.
They’re called “spoilers” for a reason. As a teen,
I had two of my favorite movies ruined by knowing too much in advance.
One was my fault. I foolishly read the novelization of Alien
before the movie came out, thus eliminating much of the shock of
the classic “chest-bursting” scene (in contrast with
my friend Nathan, who was curled up in his theater chair, clutching
his legs, gasping in horror).
Far more damaging, however, was that day before my 9th grade English
Class in May of 1980 (yes, I’m that old) when my pals Jeff
and Bill told me that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father.
They had read the book of The
Empire Strikes Back and decided it would be funny to
kill the movie’s biggest scene for their ol’ chum Karl
. While we did all line up on opening day to see the movie together,
to this day, I’ve not completely forgiven them.
For some fans, there’s no such thing as too much information.
Adam McAllister’s kal-el.org gathers every bit of content
on Superman Returns possible, posting daily updates.
While Adam is careful to warn his visitors of spoilers, the sheer
magnitude of material he collects makes it impossible for him to
remain as ignorant as he’d like. While he says he’d
“rather know hardly anything about the plotline,” he
does feel that when you have a personal stake in a film, a little
knowledge isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “It’s
good to know a general outline for a movie if it’s something
you’re into.”
Creator of The
Venture Bros., animator Chris McCulloch agrees. “Something
you might think was slow or boring while watching it cold, if you’re
braced for the ‘first hour of exposition,’ you might
have more patience.”
For many, the desire to have a fresh cinematic experience is the
priority. Superman
collector Steve Leach notes that “Spoilers are the unfortunate
side effect of living in the information age. I am trying to avoid
them, though I know it’s inevitable that I’ll read something
I wish I hadn’t.”
Jeff Ayers, manager / buyer of NYC comic store Forbidden
Planet found that avoiding all spoilers worked to his benefit
in regards last year’s biggest comic book movie. “I
blacked my senses out for the weeks leading up to Batman
Begins. I saw no trailers and was even reluctant to
talk about the film in the store or with my friends. I saw the film
in IMAX the day after its release... and it knocked my socks off!”
There’s a part of me that feels like I know too much about
Superman Returns already and as I write this, the
movie’s still two months away. My knowledge of the character
coupled with what I’ve seen so far and the fact that the film
uses Reeve’s first two Superman films as the basis has caused
me to be fairly certain I’ve figured out a number of major
story elements (which I won’t share).
From here until June 30th, I’m going to try my hardest to
avoid too much more information. I’ll try to not peruse the
many books and magazine articles that’ll be hitting the stores
very soon. I won’t read the reviews and the comic book adaptation
until after I’ve seen the film. I’ll walk down the street
with my hands over my eyes if I have to. But a lot could happen
between now and the release of the film. It remains to be seen if
Super-Restraint is a power I possess.
TRUTH,
JUSTICE and the FANATICAL WAY part one: VESTED INTEREST
TRUTH, JUSTICE and the FANATICAL WAY
part three: The WHEN, the WHERE and the WITH WHOM
TRUTH, JUSTICE and the FANATICAL WAY
part four: MOC or NOT MOC
TRUTH, JUSTICE and the FANATICAL WAY
part five: MORE POWERFUL
TRUTH, JUSTICE and the FANATICAL WAY
postscript: FANBOY FOLLOW-UP
(Karl's Spoiler-Laden Review) |
