by Mary Anne Butler, Editor/Reporter/Photographer

It seems like lately, most of the posts I’m commenting on are about either DC or Marvel.  It’s a tough time for DC fans (and studio owned pieces of the various franchises) with controversial casting choices and pushing films back a year, while it seems like Marvel and owned properties are on a roll.  But one name both have in common is Bryan Singer, producer/director of  Superman Returns from 2006 and various titles in the X Men movie family with the next installment Days of Future Past due out in May 2014.

Let me start off by saying I do not care for Superman Returns.  I think there were a few things completely right with it, like Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor (even though the script was sort of haywire), and Parker Posey as his Ms. Tessmacher.  I felt like Brandon Routh (who I like in several other projects) didn’t command the screen as a last son of Krypton should.  (Yes, I’m one of THOSE who really liked 2013’s Man of Steel, and supported the casting choices of  Brit Henry Cavill as Superman and Michael Shannon as General Zod).   I also didn’t care for the first round of X Men movies, aside from some of the casting choices.  I did however LOVE X Men: First Class, but I put that in the script and the unexpected character developments.  That said, when 25 special covers for Empire Magazine were released showing the costume choices for Days of Future Past, I was again disappointed.  It seems to be a rather up and down thing with my liking Singer’s projects.

I digress, let’s go back to Superman Returns, because Singer was all set to direct a Routh-fronted sequel that was going to be titled….Man of Steel.     These are some quotes taken from a recent interview with Singer from Empire Magazine about 2013’s film and what his would have been like.

“I am in awe of the world building and the scope of that picture. It’s tough for me. I’m not a critic and it starts to get into a weird thing where one director is talking about another director. I know how hard it is to make a movie, especially one of these movies and especially a Superman movie, and there was so much I was impressed with in that movie. There were things I might have done a little differently just because of the way I view the character. Don’t misinterpret that as me not liking something.”

The subject of Henry Cavill also came up because he was in the running for the lead role in Singer’s Superman Returns.

“I think Henry Cavill is great. I knew Henry. He and I were friends years ago. Oddly enough, the reason I didn’t cast him was because I was making a sequel to Christopher Reeve and I wanted somebody who embodied Reeve more.”

He then went on to discuss the poor reception and negative reactions to his film.

“Half of that I understand and half of it I never will. It was a movie made for a certain kind of audience. Perhaps more of a female audience.”

I’m going to stop right there and address something.  Bryan, I am a female audience member who LOVES comics, comic films, and action movies.  Saying the film, which was boring and poorly put together, was such because it was written for women is REALLY stupid and insulting.  You’re saying this because of the haphazardly thrown together love story?  Just because the leads ‘love’ each other doesn’t mean women will like it, that’s like assuming all women like the color pink.  It just isn’t a valid excuse for poor casting, terrible pacing, and lackluster action scenes.  Don’t blame it on ‘female audience’, I’m sorry but that’s bullshit.

“It wasn’t what it needed to be, I guess. I think I could lop the first quarter off and start the movie a bit more aggressively and maybe find a way to start the movie with the jet disaster sequence or something. I could have grabbed the audience a little more quickly. I don’t know what would have helped. Probably nothing. If I could go again, I would do an origin. I would reboot it.”

Singer then talks about what his  Man of Steel would have been like and the big bad it would have had:

“That was the title. Actually, my buddy, one of my two best friends, came up with that…We did explore it a little. Just hammering out ideas. I think Darkseid was going to be the villain. It was pretty world-destroying, actually.  I ended up having the opportunity to go and make Valkyrie, and I think the studio lost interest at that point. I can’t say it was all the studio’s fault and I can’t say it was all my fault. It just fizzled out.”

I would have LOVED to see a Singer-produced Henry Cavill fronted Darksied story.  That would have been amazing.  Just because I don’t agree or choose to rewatch some of Singer’s projects doesn’t mean I’ve lost COMPLETE faith in him, although the look of Quicksilver brought me pretty damn close.  I will say the idea of the follow up to Days Of Future Past being APOCALYPSE, I’m willing to forego too much saber rattling until he pulls a Michael Bay and takes the mutant out of the equation.