On February 14th, I was lucky enough to attend the premiere of All-Star Superman; the latest feature from Warner Animation. It seemed fitting that on the day of love we would be watching a film about one of the greatest romances ever told. Lois and Superman’s relationship has endured for over 70 years. So, in a theater in the heart of NYC, I sat down to meet some of the folks behind the latest film of the Man of Steel. Now you can own All-Star Superman on Blu-ray!
“When adapting someone else’s material, you hope to do it justice. You want the creators to be pleased and not look at it and feel betrayed.” says Dwayne McDuffie, the writer of this animated film. McDuffie, a comic book veteran, has written extensively for both Marvel and DC Comics for over twenty years. He soon made the transition to animation when he began to write for the Justice League animated series. McDuffie soon became a staple in animated TV shows and features as he began to churn out more and more well-received scripts. No stranger to having a comic be translated to animation, McDuffie was heavily involved in the animated series Static Shock based on characters he created during his reign at Milestone Comics; a line of comics he produced focused on multi racial characters in the mid 90‘s. “All-Star Superman is probably one of my favorite Superman stories, so when I heard they had decided to adapt it I fought very hard for it.” he says with a smile. Still, hard choices had to be made he explained when I asked him what had to be cut from the final film. “It would be great to see a Jimmy Olsen story or see the funny Bizarro visuals from the book but remember we only had seventy five minutes so we had to stick to the story of the overall arc of Superman’s emotional journey of his last adventure.” Amusingly enough, it was one small scene that McDuffie regretted the most having to cut. “In the book there’s this beautiful moment when Superman, having his own personal problems, talks a teenager out of killing herself and to me that is the essence of Superman not flying or hitting things but to inspire us to be better.” As for the future of more DC adaptations, McDuffie remarks “I wish I could tell you about my next project with Warner Animation but they would kill me. I will say though that I am working on another DC project that will be announced before the summer.” As a fan I just had to ask if there was any possibility of seeing any Milestone characters making the leap to animated features. “God I hope so, who knows maybe I will get lucky. The problem is as much as I love my characters, the issue with these features is that they have to sell at Walmart. Which means everyone has to know who they are and my characters are just not at that level. Still, I keep pushing for Static since he had his own animated series for a while, so lets see if they take the chance.”
Voice director Andrea Romano had her own challenges on the project. “I prefer to do an ensemble recording where I have all the actors in one room to record and play off each other, but unfortunately that did not happen here.” She states with her ever-perky smile. Romano has become a staple in animation having a career spaning 20 years working on projects we all grew up on: Smurfs, Batman: The Animated Series, Ducktails, Tiny Toons and many more. Romano is adored by comic fans for showing a great respect for the source material and having the uncanny ability to match a voice to these iconic characters. “They are all hard to cast.” she says “Every fan has their own opinion on what Superman’s or Lex Luthor’s voice sounds like.” She tells me. “I actually have to separate myself because since I have cast these characters so many times its easy to not question your previous choices. So what I do is, I separate myself from my experience and personal preferences. I have to forget all of that baggage and look it with fresh eyes” she states. “The big issue you have to deal with when it comes to casting stage actors is availability. You have to work around TV schedules, appearances, ect. So most times you wind up having to record them separately.” I then asked her about working with an actress who had never done voice over work, and asked what kind of challenges she faced. “It’s funny. The actors who have a more difficult time adjusting to voice over work tend to be film actors because they rely on subtlety and body language for most of their performances. TV and Stage actors transition better because they are used to putting more power in their performances and voices. Christina was wonderful. I was so surprised at how good she was considering she had never done any voice over work. Its amazing that you really can’t tell that she was not in the same room as the other actors. It was a pleasure working with her. One thing she did that really impressed me was when three days after she got married here in NYC, she got on a plane and came to Los Angeles to do a recording session and that really showed commitment.” As for dream actors that she is still trying to get for a role in future projects she told me “Jon Hamm definitely. I think he is wonderful. He is such a good actor that can not only do serious dramatic roles but also has a great talent for comedy.”
Christina Hendricks is a star to look out for. Most geeks know her from Firefly, where she played con artist Saffron who seduced Captain Malcolm Reynolds. But to the rest of the world, she is Joan; the seductive office manager of Sterling Cooper from the critically acclaimed AMC series Mad Men. As I saw Ms.Hendricks arrive I heard gasps from my fellow reporters. She is so stunning, Esquire actually named her the most beautiful woman in the world, and I have to agree. “Superman II was the first movie I saw,” She says with that unmistakable smile that lights up a room. “That and Clash of The Titans. I saw it in a drive-in theater. I remember just watching it and being amazed. That’s why when I was offered the role I jumped at the chance.” When asked about her experience doing her first voice over role Christina answered, “I was a little nervous but Andrea was amazing. She had me do lines in so many different ways because she saw the entire project as a whole in her mind, so she would help me adjust a line in certain ways in case the actor I was working against later on was recording she had the options to match the tone of the piece exactly.” As for her favorite part of being Lois Lane, Christina smiled and said “Well it was really great playing Lois, my husband would text me ‘I love you Lois Lane’. It was so sweet, but it was a lot of fun seeing the finished film tonight. My favorite part of the film was Lois getting superpowers.” And with that she was rushed off to be interviewed by other reporters.
I quickly got my seat as the film began.
Now, if you haven’t read Grant Morrison and Frank Quitley’s All-Star Superman, then I highly suggest you go out and by a copy. The basic plot is this: Luthor, having realized that Superman will outlive him, tricks the man of steel into flying to close too the sun. This causes the cells in his body to overload. Since his cells absorb sunlight which in turn gives him power now that they have too much solar energy they are beginning to burst, slowly killing Superman as well as quadrupling his abilities. The story deals with the Last Son of Krypton’s final days on earth. Superman decides to put his affairs in order and do all he can for his adopted world while he still has time.
My initial opinion of the film is that its good. Not as good as the Batman: Under The Red Hood feature that Warner put out a few years ago, but it was a more superior film than a few of their last projects. The main problem is that most of the action from the book is cut. Instead of focusing on the different aspects of Superman and his universe, the book instead focuses on the overall arc of the main story: Superman having to face his own inevitable end. Which is completely understandable since they only have seventy five minutes to tell the story. Still, the film makes the audience feel like they are missing out on the entire story. There are plot threads that had me wondering why they were included. For example, in the middle of the film Superman states that he has to fly to a galaxy far away to give the bottled city of Kandor a new home. The film practically stops because suddenly we are thrown months into the future. We never know what kind of adventure Kal-El had or what became of the galaxy Kandor. There are a lot of aspects of the story I wish would have been included; the most important aspect in my opinion was the Superboy story toward the end of the series. I don’t know why this storyline was omitted and yet the arrival of the Kryptonian couple who shuns the man of steel is. Still, for all of its flaws it is still one of the most superior tales of the Last Son of Krypton that most of the public has ever seen.
The voice cast really helps elevate the film. Andrea Romano, as always, has done a wonderful job finding new voices to familiar iconic characters. Christina Hendricks was wonderful as Lois Lane, providing strength and conviction in the famous reporters voice. I have to say James Denton was perfect as Superman. His performance really brought Kal-El to life and was excellent in epic scenes like the fight with Solaris. But my personal favorite moments were the intimate scenes with Lois in the fortress. Denton showed a gentle and almost child-like wonder in his performance as the first superhero. Anthony LaPaglia on the other hand was a tour de force as the evil criminal genius Lex Luthor. LaPaglia’s voice still gives me chills as Luthor who has become a more sinister and deadly version of himself. Other notable cast members included Ed Asner as Perry White, Matthew Gubler as Jimmy Olsen and my personal favorite Linda Cardellini as Nasthalthia
Luthor.
I also have to give praise to the animators on the project who managed to translate Frank Quitley’s unique style to the animated world. Quitley is one of those few artists who’s style seems to go against the oversaturated pop art most modern comics tend to emulate. His style is almost the complete opposite of that. While most artists are trying to draw every character as a ideal representation of modern beauty, Quitley embraces his own view of loveliness with no apologies, seeing the magnificence in the most unlikely places. I was actually stunned at how faithful they were to the comics. One of the best moments that illustrates this is when Superman disguised as Clark Kent interviews Luthor in jail and accidentally runs into the deadly super villain, The Parasite. The Parasite then goes berserk when he senses the enhanced powers of the Man of Steel. It was taken straight from the page and the little tweaks that were made actually complimented the original source material. For example, when we first see the fortress of solitude it is exactly as how it was portrayed in the comics. The attention to detail was amazing.
Special Features:
–The Creative Flow: Incubating with Writer Grant Morrison– Detailed look at Grant Morrison’s original sketches and ideas
–Filmmaker Commentary with Producer Bruce Timm and Writer Grant Morrison
–All-Star Superman Digital Comic Plus: Superman Now – How Grant Morrison revamped the Man of Steel for contemporary audiences.
–Green Lantern: Emerald Knights Preview – Nathan Fillion steps into the role of Hal Jordan in this highly anticipated Green Lantern story. Similar in style to Batman: Gotham Knights, Emerald Knights will feature several GL characters in their own solo adventures, with ties back to an overarching story line. Fans are excited to get Nathan’s take on Jordan, as many of us considered him to be a perfect choice for a live-action version of the character when the Theatrical Green Lantern film was announced. This great sneak preview gives viewers a glimpse at the new release, and the scope of the villain that the Corps must face.
–Bruce Timm Presents:Two Bonus Cartoons
-1080 Video
-English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
-DVD Copy of All-Star Superman
-Digital Copy of All-Star Superman
Overall:
In the end, I recommend that any geek have a copy of this film on their shelf. It will be a classic, and as always, Warner Animation has put out a superior product. It is a true testament to Grant Morrison’s masterpiece, and fans will consider this a fantastic adaptation of one of the greatest Superman stories of the last decade.
ComicsOnline gives All-Star Superman 5 out of 5 Blu-rays of Steel.
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