It seems like a never-ending war for “scoops” and speculation between Star Wars: Episode VII and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Earlier this week, rumours of plot details and multi-villain appearances in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice were reported by Latino Review, based on a script that was leaked. Since those reports, it has been claimed that the script was a fake and leaked on purpose to throw “scoop” sites off the real scent of what the movie is about.
Well, now Movieweb are claiming that their sources have told them that the leaked script was written by Clerks director Kevin Smith.
Here’s what the report says:
“Up until last year I worked for as a PA for a Warner Bros. exec until I was promoted to marketing. It was here I and several others where approached to work, directly and indirectly, for Susanne Knoll and sometimes Deborah Snyder.
It was here that I became a part of a particular strategy that Warner Bros has been using to great effect.
Early this year a Screenplay for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which was commissioned by Warner Bros was leaked to several gossip sites. It was a scanned PDF of the entire screenplay baring a official Warner Bros watermark.
This script has been the source of almost every leaked detail about the movie for the last six months. It has been posted on sites then quickly removed due to cease and desist letters from Warner Bros.
While the screenplay is legit and the watermark is legit and it is was commissioned by Charles Roven himself…
But it is written by neither David S. Goyer or Chris Terrio.
It was written by Kevin Smith.
Late last year both Charles Roven and Zack Snyder approached Kevin Smith with a early treatment for the film and It was Kevin Smith who came up with the idea to write an entire screenplay based on it but with several huge red herrings and changes which do not appear in the final film. These include plot points and characters etc etc. and ‘leak’ it online.
This script was distributed by myself and others to gossip sites and movie sites like aintitcool, latino review, movie pilot, etc etc
My job was to pose as a worker at Warner Bros who was leaking the screenplay.
There were several others involved who posed as recently fired members of the production, interns and special effects artists and we all spread the misleading info around the web.
None of this was done maliciously and was a strategy to misdirect much of sites that intended to spoil the film.”
If the story proves to be true, then its a pretty smart move by Warner Bros. However, there really is no way to prove the story correct unless Smith himself confirms or denies so its best to take this with a pinch of salt for now. Fans of his work will know that he often discusses Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on his Hollywood Babble-On podcast with Ralph Garman so maybe we’ll know more information on the next episode?
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is set for release on May 6th 2016, with Zack Snyder directing a cast that includes returning Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill (Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent) and Laurence Fishburne (Perry White) alongside Ben Affleck (Argo) as Batman, Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious 6) as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) as Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jesse Eisenberg (Now You See Me) as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons (The Borgias) as Alfred Pennyworth and Holly Hunter (The Piano), Callan Mulvey (300: Rise of an Empire), Tao Okamoto (The Wolverine) and Scoot McNairy (Argo) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.
Originally published July 5, 2014. Updated November 29, 2022.
