Voices From Krypton

LONG LIVE SMALLVILLE: Video Tribute

The music of Taylor Swift is combined with a multitude of clips that pays tribute to the 10-year run of the CW's Smallville in this music video that manages to encompass much of the show's history.

SUPERMAN GAME: Images From the Now Canceled Game

The now defunct Factor 5 game maker had been developing a Superman video game that would have pit the Man of Steel against a variety of villains. The game's designer, Daveed Kaplan, has posted a number of shots from it.

MAN OF STEEL: Fan-Made Poster

We're still a looooong way from the release of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill as Superman, but that doesn't mean that the creativity of fans is going to be contained. Check out this fan-made poster for the film.

SUPERMAN #4: Official Synopsis From DC Comics

SUPERMAN #4
Written by GEORGE PEREZ
Art by JESUS MERINO
Breakdowns and cover by GEORGE PEREZ
Discover the origin of the new foes who have been making The Man of Steel's life so painful and chaotic lately. What are their ties to the current ACTION COMICS epic? Plus, Lois Lane uncovers a tragic secret from Superman's past!
DC Universe 32pg. Color $2.99
Now on Sale

DEAN CAIN: Comments on Man of Steel

Dean Cain, star of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, was recently asked his feelings about Henry Cavill as Superman and Zack Snyder's approach to Man of Steel.

ODDS & ENDS: Henry Cavill Talking Man of Steel

While the Immortals promotional campaign continues, Henry Cavill continues to be interviewed and answers some cursory questions about his role of Superman in Man of Steel. What follows are excerpts from some of those interviews.
MOVIE LINE:
Q: Shooting Man of Steel you’ve got people wondering things like what earthly tools are strong enough to shave or maintain Superman’s beard. Is it a strange thing to deal with, people focusing so much on these kinds of non-serious aspects instead of your work?
HENRY CAVILL: [Laughs] I think in this day and age it’s all part and parcel. There are people taking photographs of us working all the time. It’s just one of those things; you’ve got to take it in stride. And you know, I put all the prep work into it. I’m not necessarily being shot in the best, most flattering of lights, but I put the hard work in and the performance will come later. People will see the movie, hopefully. It’ll help when people see these photos beforehand, from various movies, to sell them more on the character. So it’s less of that transition phase from seeing an actor on screen to believing a character and getting wrapped up in the story being told. Superman’s such a familiar character, so deeply ingrained in pop cultural history.
Q: What do you think fans will be most surprised to see added to the canon in Man of Steel?
HENRY CAVILL: There’s only so much I can say, I’m afraid, about the job or the character. But what I can tell you is that we’re going to make him easier to relate to, and it’s a modernization of the role.

PHOTOJOURNALISM 101: Photo Captures a Day on the Man of Steel Set

Photographer Susan Gittins oftentimes manages to snap shots of films in production in Vancouver, and Man of Steel is no exception. While writing for the Vancouver is Awesome site, she offers ino on what she saw and shares the photographs she managed to take.
   “Director Zach Snyder is so secretive about his new Superman movie that crew must check their cell phones before entry into Mammoth Studios in Burnaby and paparazzi had to climb trees in Ucluelet last month to catch glimpses of the filming,” she writes. “So it came as a shock last week to see the Man of Steel himself and shirtless to boot on a big green screen set on the North Shore. Henry Cavill, the first non-American to play the iconic role of Clark Kent/Superman, is best known to me for playing Charles Brandon on The Tudors. While Brandon [Routh] is a handsome rake he didn’t look buffed-up like this so kudos to Cavill and his trainer Gym Jones. These aren’t CGIed muscles as some of the abs in Snyder’s 300 are rumored to have been.

HITTING THE ROAD: Henry Cavill Discusses Man of Steel While Promoting Immortals

During virtually every Immortals interview that he does, Henry Cavill is asked about his role of Superman in Man of Steel. What follows are a couple of excerpts.
CONTACT MUSIC
When Henry Cavill had been cast as an extra in the Russell Crowe film Proof of Life, he decided to take advantage of the situation by asking the actor who would someday play his Kryptonian father, Jor-El, a question.
   “I had been doing school plays and so I walked up to Russell and I asked him, ‘What’s it like to be an actor?’” Cavill revealed to Contact Music. “And he said, ‘Well, you know, it’s great. Sometimes they treat you great, sometimes they don’t. And the money’s pretty good, too.’ And then everyone came running up and I waved and said, ‘Quick, run!’, because they were all looking for autographs. Two days later I got a signed picture of him in Gladiator saying, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’… At the end of that journey of a thousan miles, that first journey, he’s there as well.”

HENRY CAVILL: Jay Leno Wants to Know "Where's the Red Underwear?"

While making the promotional rounds for Immortals, Henry Cavill stopped by The Tonight Show and chatted the film up with host Jay Leno. They also worked in a tiny bit on Man of Steel - particularly Supes' lack of red underwear.

 

 

AMY ADAMS: A Bit About Henry Cavill

While promoting the new big screen adventure of The Muppets, Amy Adams sat down with reporters from Access Hollywood and shared some of her feelings about Man of Steel co-star Henry Cavill.

HENRY CAVILL IN FLIGHT? Not!

Although Geek Summit claims to have footage of Henry Cavill in "flight" against green screen in costume, in reality they're just having a little fun showing off their custom made Henry Cavill/Man of Steel action figure. The figure itself is actually pretty cool.

ZACK SNYDER: Quick Comment About Man of Steel

On what looks like the red carpet for a Sucker Punch premiere, Zack Snyder offers up a quick comment about his intentions for Superman in Man of Steel. Prior to that, though, he and Supes himself, Henry Cavill, share a quick hug.

SUPERMAN VS. TERMINATOR: An Interview with Alan Grant

Written by Edward Gross. Originally published in 2000, Superman vs. Terminator was a four-issue miniseries written by Alan Grant that brought the Man of Steel together with.... well, the man of steel. What follows is an interview with the writer which was conducted back in the day.
   Initially it sounded a lot like a fanboy's idea of a wet dream: take comic icon Superman and pit him in battle against moviedom's reigning cybernetic killing machine, the Terminator. It's a high-concept idea that really shouldn't work, but does remarkably well in the DC/Dark Horse four-issue miniseries, SUPERMAN VS. TERMINATOR [originally published back in 2000]. Hey, we're not alone in our first impression. Series writer Alan Grant pretty much felt the same way when he was approached about turning the concept into a script.

THE SUPERMAN COSTUME: Henry Cavill Discusses Donning the Iconic Suit

You know, people, Henry Cavill is supposed to be talking about Immortals, his new film opening on November 11th in which he plays Theseus, and not his role as Superman in the upcoming Man of Steel. But some journalists insist on asking him about the latter... and we're grateful that they do! In this video, he shares his feelings about donning the Superman outfit.

 

MICHAEL SHANNON: Talking Zod with EW

Entertainment Weekly has an interview with actor Michael Shannon in which he discusses the second season of his HBO series Boardwalk Empire. However, during the course of that interview the conversation turns to Zack Snyder's Man of Steel and Shannon's portrayal of the Kryptonian Zod. What follows is an excerpt from that interview.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:
Were you a fan of the Superman comics, or Terence Stamp’s Zod in Superman II?
MICHAEL SHANNON:
I don’t read the comic book, although when I got the job, they sent me a giant DC Comics book that weighs about a ton. It’s got the whole history of DC in it. It’s fascinating, actually. I looked at it with my daughter. She’s really fascinated by it. I remember Terence Stamp doing it. He was phenomenal. I have to try and figure out a way to do something different.

HENRY CAVILL: Interview Except From "Of Gods and Man (of Steel)"

In the new issue of SciFi Now magazine, Voices From Krypton editor Ed Gross offers up an exclusive interview with actor Henry Cavill who discusses his role of Theseus in Immortals and Superman in Man of Steel. The following is an excerpt from that interview. For the full conversation, check out the new issue of SciFi Now magazine, which is also currently available for downloading on the iPad.
ED GROSS:
The roles of Theseus and Superman have required you to transform physically, and I wonder what the transformative result of that is on you emotionally or psychologically when you walk on a set.
HENRY CAVILL:
That’s a very good question…. The mindset when you change your body physically, and your ability physically, there’s more of a self-belief. There is more of a security in yourself. It’s quite a unique feeling when you have a moment and you’re rested, and you’re not exhausted and everything else, you think, “I can do this stuff; I’m probably in the top 10 of physically fit people in this room,” and that’s a very good

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: A Look Back

The CW has announced that a remake of the 1987-1990 TV series Beauty and the Beast is in development under the guidance of the original's creator, Ron Koslow, Without a Trace's Jennifer Levin and Brothers & Sisters' Sherri Cooper. Says TV Line, "The new version will not only modernize and CW-up the love story but also add a procedural twist." With this in mind, we turn the focus back to the original.

 

The concept of Beauty and the Beast – and its tale of a cold and heartless man transformed into something hideous and cursed to remain that way unless he finds true love – has been enchanting audiences for nearly three centuries, ranging from the original 1740 Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve fairy tale through Jean Cocteau’s 1946 French film, Disney’s 1991 animated version and even this year’s Beastly. But none have had as unique a take as Koslow’s 1987-1990 television series. That series owes its existence to the desire of then CBS entertainment president Kim Lemasters to see if the classic fairy tale could be updated for a modern audience. The challenge was to find someone capable of translating this notion into a premise that would connect with television viewers, which Lemasters ultimately found with motion picture writer/producer Ron Koslow. Koslow, whose screen credits included First Born and Into the Night, and who most recently co-created and executive produced CBS’ vampire P.I. series Moonlight, came up with a concept that would juxtapose the classic fairy tale upon a modern setting. In the series pilot, assistant District Attorney Catherine Chandler is savagely beaten and slashed by a group of punks who have mistaken her for someone else. Left to die in Central Park, she is found by a noble lion-man named Vincent, who brings her to the underground community that lies beneath the streets of New York. As Catherine heals, a psychic connection is struck between them and that, in turn, transforms itself into an eternal love. The ensuing series chronicled that love as Vincent provided his own brand of aid to Catherine’s world, while she did what she could to help those Below. The couple loved as best they could in a world that would never understand them and censors who would never allow them to consummate their relationship. Said Koslow at the time of the show’s debut in 1987, “What we’ve tried to do is create a compelling, contemporary version of the original story, centering on a new mythic figure and interesting kind of urban hero. We also wanted to tell a classical love story in a contemporary context. Beauty and the Beast affords us the opportunity to do just that, given the insurmountable obstacles which Vincent and Catherine face. We now have a chance to explore this kind of romance on television, with all its impossibility and longing. The relationship between Catherine and Vincent will be continually challenged by the fact that Vincent will remain who he is—a perfect man; ironically, Catherine’s perfect soul mate—trapped in an imperfect body. The power of his character lies in the fact that he’s a survivor who accepts who he is, and continues to move forward.” The vast underground realm, as portrayed on the series, was an extrapolation on reality. Beneath the streets of Manhattan are underground caverns, rivers and miles of tunnels, the original purpose of which was to serve as conduits for steam, water and electricity. “Several years ago,” Koslow had said, “I read an article which described people who were living in the steam tunnels below the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan, who were getting their food from the dumpsters behind the hotel restaurant, and generally living off that which was disposed of in the world above. Since then, I have wanted to do a show which could incorporate the various textures of New York City, from the upper east side to the halls of power, the public institutions and, finally, this whole subterranean secret world Below the streets.” And thus Beauty and the Beast was born, with Linda Hamilton (who had made great impact as Sarah Connor in James Cameron’s The Terminator) being signed to portray Catherine and Ron Perlman (who fanboys know and love from a wide variety of roles today, including Hellboy) as Vincent. The pilot was a unanimous success, though most people wondered where things would go as a series. “That was certainly a one question I posed to Koslow when he first called me,” explains writer George R.R. Martin, who has just seen his Game of Thrones novels transformed into the HBO television series. “I could see from the pilot that there were ways to go that I thought were very interesting, and there were ways to go that were not very interesting. I think that there were certain elements from the network right at the beginning that regarded us as a hairy version of The Hulk, with the obligatory rescue at the end of the fourth act and that kind of thing. If we were going to be primarily an action/adventure show oriented toward children with an obligatory beast-out at the end of the second act, and a major rescue at the end of the fourth act, I really didn’t want to be involved with it. But from talking to Ron, it became clear that his ambitions for the show were very high and that he regarded it as adult-oriented drama, rather than formula action/adventure. That was one of the factors that changed my mind, and determined that I would take a crack at it. Then, once we were out there, determining which way to go was part of the challenge.” There were, he adds, various stages in the development of the show. In the beginning, naturally, the network put the writers precisely in the direction that they didn’t want to go with formula action/adventure kind of scripts. “They were putting restrictions on us in the first season which we labored under that were kind of difficult,” he offers, “including the most irritating to me: they didn’t want to see any other people in the underworld. Initially, the network saw it as a cop show with a hairy hero who saved people at the end. I think there were always elements at the network that thought the tunnel people were kind of strange and didn’t quite know what to make of them. Of course from my background, the tunnel people were precisely the elements that interested me the most: that whole tunnel society, and the world down there, Vincent and his origins…the fantastic elements. Thankfully, we were finally able to break through when the ratings were strong enough and we earned a little freedom to do what we wanted. These battles are worth fighting, because sometimes you lose them for a while, but eventually the tide turns. In our case, that turn came in the middle of the first season where we were finally able to introduce the underground community in the way we wanted to.” For producer Alex Gansa, the most exciting aspect of the show was developing its direction following the pilot. “That was the best time, because nobody had any idea what we were going to do, nobody knew what to expect,” he says. “It was the most excitingly creative time I’ve had in Hollywood, only because the show could have gone in any number of directions, most of which would have been horrible. The way it evolved was very exciting.”

DEADMAN: Supernatural's Eric Kripke to Produce TV Pilot

At the TCA in May, CW president Mark Pedowitz claimed that a priority at the network was the development of a new series based on a DC Comics character to replace the departing Smallville. For a time it seemed that Raven of the Teen Titans was under serious consideration, but Deadline is reporting that, instead, it could very well be a TV version of the Arnold Drake/Carmine Infantino character of Deadman. Most importantly, said show - or pilot at this stage - is going to be developed and executive produced by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. Offers Deadline, "The project is about the spirit of a murdered man, Boston Brand, who lives on as he inhabits other people's bodies and helps them solve crises in their own lives." What Deadline fails to mention is that Brand was given the power to do this by a goddess who was offering him the opportunity to pursue the hook-handed man who had killed him (essentially making Deadman a supernatural version of TV's The Fugitive).

GHOSTBUSTERS 3: Aykroyd Says Yes For 2012, Sony Not So Much

Deadline is reporting that Ghostbusters 3 is going to go into production in 2012, at least according to Dan Aykroyd who said so on the Dennis Miller radio show. Sony, however, may beg to differ given the following comment from Aykroyd: “That is our hope. We have an excellent script. What we have to remember is that Ghostbusters is bigger than any one component, although Billy was absolutely the lead and contributed to it in a massive way, as was the director and Harold (Ramis), myself and Sigourney (Weaver). The concept is much larger than any individual role and the promise of Ghostbusters 3 is that we get to hand the equipment and the franchise down to new blood.” As the website notes, however, without Bill Murray, the studio isn't interested.

GRANT MORRISON: The Death of Comics

While promoting his new non-fiction book Supergods, writer Grant Morrison sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss Superman, the DC relaunch and the death of comics. What follows is an excerpt:
ROLLING STONE: DC is relaunching its entire line – is there some desperation there?
GRANT MORRISON: There's always going to be a bit of that because comics sales are so low, people are willing to try anything these days. It's just plummeting. It's really bad from month to month. May was the first time in a long time that no comic sold over 100,000 copies, so there's a decline.
ROLLING STONE: Do you think this is the death spiral?
GRANT MORRISON: Yeah. I kind of do, but again, you can always be wrong. There's a real feeling of things just going off the rails, to be honest. Superhero comics. The concept is quite a ruthless concept, and it's moved on, and it's kind of abandoned, the first-stage rocket. Abandoning comics? And moving on to movies, where it can be more powerful, more effective. The definition of a meme is an idea that wants to replicate, and it's found a better medium through which to replicate, games, movies. It would be a shame, because as I said in the book, one of the most amazing things about those universes is that they exist, there's a paper continuum that reflects the history, but people don't die, it's like the Simpsons, people don't age, they just change. Pop music is the same. When it's not selling, things are going down, it's nothing to do with the quality. With comics, the quality now is better than it's ever been, there are more people now who are really good at what they do, doing what they do. Everything's available for free, I think that's the real problem, nobody wants to buy it anymore. One comes out, you see it immediately online and you can read it. That's the way people want to consume their information, the colors look nicer. I think that's more the problem, but that's a problem for everybody, it's not just for comics, everyone's going to start feeling that one.
   For the full interview, click HERE.