While George Miller and Warner Bros. duke it out with the Australian government over tax incentives, here’s something for you to mull over: Juno director Jason Reitman told Howard Stern this morning that he turned down the Justice League movie.
Honest to blog!
Here’s Slashfilm with the quote: “I had to sign something, they send me the script and it comes on this spy paper which can’t be xeroxed. They have a time when I have to have the script back to them and the script is fine and I could be spending. … What am I going to do with Justice League of America? So, basically I’ll make a movie that is not as good as X-Men, then I’ll be the guy who made a movie not as good as X-Men.”
The Juno DVD hits stores next week, perfect timing for someone to create an Office Space-style Super Friends remix. Don’t let me down, YouTubers.
Also, for those playing at home: If IMDB is to be believed, we’ve moved from Justice League of America to Justice League Mortal to Justice League Is Mortal. There’s an old superstition about renaming a boat bringing bad luck. I’m pretty sure the same holds true for superhero movies.
(Via Cinematical)
April 11th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Instead, he’ll stay the guy who made Juno. Oh boy.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Justice League is Justice!
April 11th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
There is no way that any of these weird, ungrammatical working titles will be the final name of the movie. It will end up as “Justice League”. The studio marketing department won’t stand for anything that gets in the way of making the simplest sell of a concept that much of the public might meet with skepicism.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Umm… Juno was perfectly good little movie. Overrated? Sure. But very good? You betcha. Definitely a step up for the lead from being in X3.
Anyhow, Jason Retiman’s star is rising thanks to Juno and he went and turned JLA 90210 (Yes, I’m gonna keep calling it that unless WB wises up and recasts it) down. Sounds to me like he didn’t think much of the script. Can’t say I’m shocked.
This film, if it gets made, just sounds like it’ll be X3 all over again. Just not as good (and I’m not implying that X3 was terribly good). X3 actually made some money, but I don’t think that’s a given if JL Mortal, or whatever they’re calling it this week, stinks to high hell.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
*This* is actually a real indication of the quality of the movie. A good director has a negative opinion of the script.
It’s not the end of the world. Scripts can change and improve. Different directors can see diferent things in the same script. Bad movies have been made from good scripts and mediocre scripts have been improved into good movies.
But this is still a reasonable opinion from someone who knows what he is talking about. That’s worth noting.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I find it exceedingly hard to believe that any screenplay could possibly be worse than the script of Juno.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Jason Reitman also directed Thank you for Smoking, which was awesome.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
*This* is actually a real indication of the quality of the movie. A good director has a negative opinion of the script.
I didn’t read it that way; I read it much more as Reitman saying that he, personally, couldn’t make the movie work. He says the script is fine, which is sort of damning with faint praise, but he doesn’t think he could make a great movie out of it. As much as I like Juno (and, admittedly, hated Thank You For Smoking), I don’t know that he’s a guy with skills for fantasy and action, at least not like Miller is.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I read it a little more negatively than that, but I see your point.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
While I love Jason Reitman’s first two films, I think he would be a really bad fit for a JLA movie. When will the WB put their money where their mouth is and fight to get someone like James Cameron or someone that really knows how to make an action film with a lot of heart?
April 11th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Holly, I thought the Mad Max films were great action films. Also, plenty of George Miller’s films have had heart. I think he can do action and heart.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
buh?