‘Mission: Impossible’ Series Director Christopher McQuarrie Shares Ideas From His “Epic” Superman Pitch, Including Green Lantern Involvement
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning director Christopher McQuarrie shared more about his abandoned Man of Steel 2 pitch while on the road promoting his latest collaboration with Tom Cruise.
Speaking with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, McQuarrie didn’t reveal much, but he laid out a few abstract ideas he had for the tone and the beginning of his movie, swearing it would have been “epic” and tapped into Superman’s fears.
“The first five minutes of my Superman movie… imagine a [Pixar’s] Up sequence with no dialogue… after which you knew exactly what made Superman tick and exactly what Superman was most afraid of… it would have been epic. The scale of the movie would have been absolutely extraordinary,” he said via Cosmic Book News.
McQuarrie added he would’ve captured the hero’s sense of hope while recognizing what Richard Donner did that remains unmatched, but without rehashing the late director’s vision. “I don’t think you need to live in the shadow of Donner’s Superman. I don’t think you need to live in the shadow of John Williams’ score. But you do need to recognize that that movie captured better than any other… the heart of that character,” he explained.
“Superman’s greatest obstacle is himself. Followed potentially by Green Lantern,” McQuarrie continued. This comment opens up another aspect of McQuarrie’s talks with Warner Bros. to direct a DC movie. Initially, he was approached with Green Lantern, a character which was in limbo after Ryan Reynolds and GoldenEye director Martin Campbell failed to get Hal over with movie audiences.
He admitted that the ring slinger is hard to write about because of his power level, which is occasionally comparable to Superman, but McQuarrie managed to “crack” his approach to the character. “Green Lantern’s a tough one… The power is very challenging, and I cracked it… It was fun… Watching him learn how to use that power… and giving that power a flaw, so that it was not pure invincibility…” he said.
McQuarrie’s big hook to his story was, naturally, the Lantern ring’s one major flaw: it’s limited power. “The whole concept of Green Lantern is the ring has to be recharged. Yes, you have infinite power, but you only have so much battery life, and that can run out at inconvenient times. That for me solved the whole Green Lantern problem… How do you give that character tension and stakes, and also how do you do it with Superman?” the director elucidated.
Henry Cavill, whom McQuarrie met and worked with on Mission: Impossible – Fallout, was on board. “Henry had a take on that, and I suddenly realized how these two characters had amazing similarities, which also allowed for amazing conflict and an amazing universe-expanding resolution,” McQuarrie revealed.
McQuarrie was turned down and moved on long before Cavill followed suit. After his appearance in Black Adam, Cavill unceremoniously bowed out of Superman without realizing his dream of a more hopeful Man of Steel. James Gunn might bring back the hope and charm to the franchise in July, but we’ll see.
Meanwhile, McQuarrie thinks his vision of Superman could still be made by someone willing, as the material is still there for the reaping. “It’s all right there, guys. It’s all right there, just sitting there waiting for somebody to make [it],” he says.
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