Next year, Warner Bros. will finally pull the trigger on a shared DC movie universe with the release of not one but two DC comic book movies in the Man of Steel follow-up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the supervillain ensemble Suicide Squad.
If all goes to plan for the studio, it will have launched a cohesive universe that could potentially rival that of Marvel Studios, and Warner Bros. president of creative development and worldwide production Greg Silverman has been speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the DC slate, which includes the two-part Justice League, as well as Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Shazam, Cyborg and Green Lantern.
“We have a great strategy for the DC films, which is to take these beloved characters and put them in the hands of master filmmakers and make sure they all coordinate with each other,” said Silverman. “You’ll see the difference when you see Batman v. Superman, Suicide Squad, Justice League and all the things that we are working on.”
As for the dark tone witnessed in the trailer for Batman v Superman, Silverman stated that: “There is intensity and a seriousness of purpose to some of these characters. The filmmakers who are tackling these properties are making great movies about superheroes; they aren’t making superhero movies. And when you are trying to make a good movie, you tackle interesting philosophies and character development. There’s also humor, which is an important part.”
Silverman then went on to discuss the appointment of a female director on Wonder Woman (with Patty Jenkins replacing Michelle MacLaren): “We had a very intensive process looking at everybody. Patty and Michelle were really the ones who came to the forefront the first go-round, so when things didn’t work out with Michelle, we all knew we had someone great who had expressed interest before. She came back and is doing a great job. But it was never about the best female director. She has demonstrated doing amazing work with female characters, such as in Monster.”
And finally, with regards to Warner’s policy of hiring competing writers to work on projects simultaneously, Silverman explained that: “Every project is different. On some projects, we have multiple writers working together. In some cases, we put writers together who have never been a team together. And sometimes, there is only one writer whose voice is right. In the case of Wonder Woman, the right approach was to have writers pitching different scenes within the framework we created.”
https://youtu.be/SNwsAgrJ91c?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published June 4, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
