Don Payne (screenwriter) talks Rise of the Silver Surfer

[Advanced Dark]

http://www.comics2film.com/FanFrame.php?f_id=23823

SCREENWRITER DON PAYNE ON MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND & FF2

You know superheroes have truly entered the spirit of the times when Hollywood begins releasing superhero films not based on comics. Examples have been The Incredibles, Sky High and most recently, My Super Ex-Girlfriend. My Super Ex-Girlfriend was released this past summer and wasn’t commercially well received but being put out on the same weekend as Lady in the Water and Clerks II will do that to a film. But now that My Super Ex-Girlfriend is out on DVD it is sure to become a cult classic with mainstream audiences and comic book fans.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend stars Uma Thurman as a very neurotic superhero named G-Girl who in her secret identity of Jenny Johnson falls in love with Matt Saunders [played by Luke Wilson]. When Saunders decides to dump Jenny for his true love, G-Girl takes her revenge on him in ways that only a superhero could. I got a chance to talk with My Super Ex-Girlfriend screenwriter Don Payne from the office of his day job as a Simpsons writer/producer.

Daniel Robert Epstein” RE: First of all, congratulations on the WGA nominations.

Don Payne: Oh thank you. You have been paying attention. That’s cool.

DRE: It’s great because they just reran Simpson Christmas Stories so I was able to see it again. I thought it was going to have three writers.

Payne: They used to do that but not anymore. Usually the same person writes all three for Halloween, Christmas and New Year’s. That’s been going on the past few years. I think it was [Simpsons showrunner] Al Jean’s decision. Although it was fun to have three different people doing it, you’d come in with three segments that were way too long and when you put it together it would be an hour long show. So to add some consistency and to have some tight scripts, he’s been assigning them to the same person. I was happy to do it.

DRE: It must be great to get WGA nominations because that’s from your peers.

Payne: Yeah, it’s good. The Writer’s Guild Awards have been very good for the show. I’ve been nominated a few times but I never won though I did win the Paul Selvin Award. Then the next year they went slumming and gave it to George Clooney. It is fun to be nominated and it’s fun to go to the dinner and see writers up there talking. They’re not the people you generally see in the forefront or up on the stage. So it’s good to be able to celebrate your peers.

DRE: Did you write Super-Ex on spec?

Payne: Yes, I did.

DRE: How quickly did it get sold?

Payne: It all happened pretty quickly. I tried to write it pretty fast because I had a feeling it was in the zeitgeist. I sold it in November of 2004 and by the fall of the next year they were already shooting.

Superheroes were so popular and I thought this was an interesting twist on them. What really spurred me was The Incredibles because I loved that film and I knew it was coming out so I really wanted to get this idea out there. I knew that was going to do well. I have always been a big comic book fan and I like comedy so I put the two of them together.

DRE: Were you surprised that Uma wanted to do it after Batman & Robin?

Payne: Yeah I was delighted and surprised that she wanted to do it after

Batman & Robin. As a comic book fan Batman & Robin was so infuriating. There’s nothing worse than a bad superhero movie and there’s nothing better than a great one. I’ve been a fan of Uma’s since Dangerous Liaisons and I really liked My Super-Ex Girlfriend. It’s a fun film. It didn’t do as well in the box office as I hoped it would but I think people will rediscover it on DVD.

DRE: She’s almost luminous in Super-Ex-Girlfriend.

Payne: And in person. She’s this wonderful combination of this stunning, tall, gorgeous actress and this wonderful, slightly geeky, insecure woman. That’s who she is and you can’t help but fall in love with her.

DRE: In the past 12 years or so the films that Ivan Reitman has directed have not been as good or successful as the ones from the 80’s and early 90’s. When you found out he was going to direct I’m sure you were very excited but at the same time is there a little voice saying, “Oh man, Ivan Reitman hasn’t directed a good movie in a long time.”

Payne: [laughs] Well, I hoped this would be the one for him. There was no hesitancy on my part. I really was excited from the get go for Ivan to be involved. Again, I think it’s a good film. It just didn’t do so well. I think he did a great job. I grew up on Stripes and Ghostbusters and I love Dave so I feel like he’s still got good movies in him.

I had a great experience working with him. In fact I knew that his name was being bandied about so I was pushing the studio to bring him on. He was really good to me throughout the entire process. Certainly there are things that you would have done differently. There’s no screenwriter that’s ever done something that’s been directed by someone else that said, “They’ve done it exactly the way I wanted them to.” But Ivan kept me on throughout the entire process. He worked with me really closely on the rewrites and really made me feel included on the set. He’d call and ask my opinion about things, which is great for a writer. He didn’t always take my advice, but he was interested and that was a good thing.

DRE: In the year between you finishing the screenplay for Super-Ex and it going into production there were some superhero movies released. Were there things that you guys had to change because other superhero movies had done them?

Payne: I think at one point we had talked about doing a sequence where G-Girl saves an airplane but then we heard that Superman Returns was doing that. That was not in the original spec but it was a possible direction we were going to go in. But really it wasn’t intended to be a traditional superhero, big action set piece film. It was supposed to be more of a twisted romantic comedy that happened to have a superhero character in it. So that was where the emphasis was supposed to be, on the relationship and the comedy more so than the effects and the action. I think it was a little darker in the spec and a little grungier. It became a little more of a traditional Hollywood romantic comedy than I had originally conceived it. But I still enjoyed the film.

DRE: Was it difficult for you to come up with superhero names?

Payne: Yeah, originally she was X-Girl.

DRE: Oh, I bet they took care of that real quick [laughs].

Payne: Yeah, they sure did. I totally get that X-Girl as being too close to X-Men. I just thought it was interesting because X is mysterious and it has that double meaning with ex-girlfriend. The original title of the film was Super-Ex but the powers that be felt that was too close to X-Men. I thought that was crazy. Ex is a word. It was never intended to be infringing on their copyright or stealing any of their thunder. Unfortunately the film was made by Regency Enterprises and they have a distribution deal with Fox and Fox owns the X-Men franchise rights so there was no fighting it. As much as I did want it to be Super-Ex, it wound up as My Super-Ex-Girlfriend and I don’t know if that really helped us in the end.

DRE: Was it tough to come up with G-Girl?

Payne: I didn’t come up with G-Girl. It was actually Ivan and Uma that came up with G-Girl. I had gone through a list of a hundred different names. It is hard to come up with a new superhero name that hasn’t been taken by Marvel or DC.

DRE: I think the comic book companies also just register names without there even being a character.

Payne: Yeah, but it was definitely Ivan and Uma that came up with G-Girl. I had pitched other things but I guess Ivan found them too comic booky. Which God knows I love because I’m a big comic book guy.

DRE: So how was it being on a big budget, high concept movie in New York with Ivan Reitman who directed Ghostbusters in New York over 20 years before?

Payne: Man, it was awesome. [laughs] I don’t know how else to describe it. It was a surreal experience. Like I said it all happened really quickly and I haven’t spent that much time in New York and there I am in the thick of it. I really fell in love with the city while I was there. I thought that the people were amazing and the crew was great and the cast were all really cool people, every one of them, not a prima donna among them.

DRE: Was the film always set in New York?

Payne: It was always set in New York and I guess there was talk about moving it to a cheaper location but I think it was Uma that really wanted to shoot it there. That’s her home and she wanted to be near her kids. So God bless her for that, I think it really worked well in New York.

DRE: It’s nice to see that you didn’t make up a city. No one would have faulted you for though because so many cities have been made up by the big comic book companies.

Payne: That’s true. I was always more of a Marvel guy than a DC guy and I think one of the reasons is that Marvel had New York and Chicago and Los Angeles, and DC had Gotham City and Metropolis. With Marvel it seemed like you could see these guys because you’ve seen things like the Statue of Liberty. That’s why I set it there.

DRE: Besides the city itself, do you consider My Super-Ex Girlfriend to be more Marvel or DC?

Payne: Ivan was a big DC fan. I was always a big Marvel fan so I think it’s some hybrid. I certainly wrote it thinking of all my Marvel history floating around my subconscious childhood.

DRE: What was the inspiration for the shark throwing scene?

Payne: That was the very last scene I wrote. I had the whole story carded out up on a bulletin board. I had this one hole and it was when G-Girl threatens Matt and Hannah [played by Anna Faris]. I knew it had to be something where she threatens them but not where she actually hurts them so I thought, “Why doesn’t she throw a shark at them.” So I just put it in there and that became the signature image of the movie. I always enjoyed the idea of someone throwing a shark through your apartment window.

DRE: Do you know if comic books were used by production for inspiration?

Payne: I don’t know. But I was certainly sending covers and things like that to Ivan going, “Hey, look at this. Isn’t this cool? Wouldn’t it be great if she flew up the side of the building like this? Like The Sentry? [laughs] There’s this cool cover from The Sentry where he’s flying straight at you and you realize he’s flying up a building and people are looking out at him. I thought that would be a cool image to use but it had already been storyboarded by then.

DRE: Would you like to see these characters live on in comic book form?

Payne: It is funny because everyone’s calling me going, “I just saw your film on the airplane.” The thing is, nobody saw it. Everyone knew about it but I had so many people coming to me going, “When’s your movie coming out?” I was like, “Dude, it came out three months ago. Where were you?” But it was a crowded summer and it got lost in the shuffle. Hopefully people will be renting it.

I would love to do a comic. I volunteered to write a graphic novel adaptation for this because I really thought that even though it is not a traditional comic book movie it would still be great to really market it toward the comic book crowd. I thought we should do convention panels and do a graphic novel adaptations and the cover of Wizard. But there was not a lot of enthusiasm for that strategy. I think they were afraid because there was so many failed straight up superheroine movies like Catwoman and Elektra. So they didn’t want it to be tagged that way. I can see their point but from my point of view, just because you’re doing a panel at a convention or doing a cover for Wizard, it doesn’t mean my mom’s not going to see it. The people who go see romantic comedies don’t necessarily pay attention to all that superhero genre media. So I just felt that if we had reached out to the geek community a little more that might have helped us opening weekend. I include myself in the geek community so that’s not an insult whatsoever.

DRE: I don’t know how these things work but does Ivan’s company or Regency own the comic book rights?

Payne: Ivan was freelance in this production so he doesn’t own the characters. It was totally financed by Regency and it was distributed and marketed by 20th Century Fox. Regency owns all the rights to the project so if they wanted to do it I’d be willing. Hey, I love comics, make it happen.

DRE: Have you heard of the Luna Brothers comic book, Ultra?

Payne: I have heard of Ultra. In fact, I didn’t read Ultra as I was writing this because I didn’t want to be influenced by it. I did read it later and I thought it was pretty good. I was in the thick of writing this thing when that came out. It was more of a superhero Sex in the City than the Fatal Attraction thing that my movie is. The Luna Brothers are awesome.

DRE: I know you can’t talk too much about the Fantastic Four sequel.

Payne: I had a feeling this was going to come up.

DRE: If there’s anything you can’t tell me, just let me know.

Payne: Believe me, I’d get executed on the spot. This phone’s probably bugged right now. I’m on the Fox lot so they watch you like a hawk. The reaction to what has been released from the movie has been favorable but we’re six months out. I hope people are still as enthusiastic then. There are still a lot of surprises and I think it’s going to be good.

DRE: One of the things that’s interesting about you writing the Fantastic Four sequel is that when Simpsons writers work on other projects it is usually comedies. It is really cool that you wrote a film that isn’t a straight up comedy. Was that difficult to make happen?

Payne: I’ve been trying to write features since I moved to Los Angeles years ago and I wound up on The Simpsons which is a show that I was really a huge fan of. But I had always wanted to do movies and I was really pushing my agent to get me out there and certainly Super-Ex helped me take that step. But I’d also been meeting with Marvel for a long time. I felt that if I put myself in front of them enough I’d finally wear them down and they’d give me an assignment. But I got this gig because studio executives here had responded to my original script of Super-Ex before the film came out and I’d met with Marvel and they liked me and also liked the spec so that’s how I got the gig. I just kept pushing for it and went in and pitched my take on it and wrote a draft. I’ve always been a big comic book fan and a particularly big Fantastic Four fan. So in my mind it wasn’t that much of a stretch but I am certainly lucky to have the opportunity.

DRE: How many drafts did you do?

Payne: They all blend together. Officially it’s probably two or three but you’re constantly fixing little things. It becomes a gray area.

DRE: But you didn’t work with the other writer that’s credited on the IMDB, [Twin Peaks co-creator] Mark Frost.

Payne: I never met Mark Frost or read his script. It was a parallel development and we were both working independently on versions of the script. I lucked out [laughs]. I don’t know Mark Frost but I know his work. He wrote these cool Sherlock Holmesian Victorian fantasy novels. One is called The 6 Messiahs. They’re really good and entertaining and I’m surprised that they haven’t been made into movies yet.

DRE: How much does the sequel resemble the comic books?

Payne: As much as I can get in there [laughs]. You can’t do a literal translation from script to screen otherwise the first film would be talking about beating the pinkos into outer space. You’ve got to do what you can with the story, the characters you have and the actors. I think Kerry Washington is great and if there is a third film and we do the Puppet Master story, I’m hoping Kerry would have a lot more to do because I think she’s a really talented woman.

DRE: So you’re saying there is no Puppet Master in Fantastic Four 2.

Payne: [laughs] I am not at liberty to discuss the Puppet Master. It’s a very crowded film as it is right now.

DRE: Did you reread Fantastic Four or is it all right there in your mind?

Payne: It’s been with me for a long time, since childhood. Some of my earliest memories were from the Fantastic Four cartoons, way back when.

DRE: The one where they just basically took the panels and panned the camera over them.

Payne: Yeah, though I did buy Essential Fantastic Fours and Essential Silver Surfer just to refresh my memories about things.

DRE: What’s your favorite run of Fantastic Four?

Payne: I was really big into them in the 70’s with Marv Wolfman, George Perez and Len Wein. I’m really into all the Ultimate stuff right now too. I think that’s cool.

DRE: Do you have a superhero that you really want to do a screenplay for?

Payne: All the Marvel stuff. I love Captain America, I love the Avengers, Spiderman, Incredible Hulk.

DRE: Those are all taken. What about something that’s not taken?

Payne: Well they’re not taken until they’re up on the screen. I know they have Hawkeye. He’s a cool character. They’ve been trying to do a Black Panther thing out there also. Dr. Strange is still out there, that’s cool.

DRE: Are you still doing stuff with the movie?

Payne: I’m on the tail end. I believe they just wrapped first unit stuff this past weekend and they still have got another week of second unit stuff. I’m sure they’ll go back and do re-shoots or pickups or whatever in the spring once they take a look at everything put together, as is the norm with every single movie I’ve ever heard of. But up until now, I’ve been doing little tweaks. [Fantastic Four director] Tim [Story] would email me from the set saying “Hey could you change this line” and I’d pitch him a few alternates. We’ll see what happens over the next few months but I have my eye on other things I want to do. I have other spec scripts I want to write and then if they don’t sell, I’d certainly be pursuing assignments and things like that. I’d love to work with Marvel again. Every time a writer gets attached to The Avengers or The Incredible Hulk, I call up [President of Production for Marvel Studios] Kevin Feige and go “What’s going on man? You gave away Avengers. I could have done that. You gave away Captain America. I could have done that.”

My Super-Ex-Girlfriend DVD is priced at $29.99 and is available now

 

[Casius--J]

That was a good read, i didnt know frost was replaced as screen writer.

 

[Carp Man]

Yea. Frost is nowhere in sight. t: This movie rises or falls on Payne's story. Don does not need to worry. When FF 2 hits big, he will have more offers then he can shake a stick at. Including, ( I hope ) FF 3.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

I think Kerry Washington is great and if there is a third film and we do the Puppet Master story

So, this ends the all idea of this one being the first of a trilogy or even two movies.
This one will dwell on SS and Galactus, which means that it sounds even worst then before.
2h movie to introduce Norrin Radd, Galactus and stop the menace......wow

 

[Carp Man]

[/b]
So, this ends the all idea of this one being the first of a trilogy or even two movies.
This one will dwell on SS and Galactus, which means that it sounds even worst then before.
2h movie to introduce Norrin Radd, Galactus and stop the menace......wow

IF is the keyword there. IF. It's not a defenite. Think Payne is thinking out loud here. Don't start rumors that FF 3 will be about Puppet Master. 3 will be a continuation of 2. Trust me.

 

[Spider-Fan]

[/B]
So, this ends the all idea of this one being the first of a trilogy or even two movies.
This one will dwell on SS and Galactus, which means that it sounds even worst then before.
2h movie to introduce Norrin Radd, Galactus and stop the menace......wow

Does this shock you? I knew it wouldn't.

Even if he is thinking out loud, Carp Man, he gives the impression that his script was a beginning and end to the SS and Galactus story. I doubt this will end on a cliffhanger more than ever.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

So Frost is completely off the project? I thought he was a collaborator?

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

IF is the keyword there. IF. It's not a defenite. Think Payne is thinking out loud here. Don't start rumors that FF 3 will be about Puppet Master. 3 will be a continuation of 2. Trust me.

What if?
He wrote the script, he, most of all, knows if it ends or have a continuation.
If he puts the idea of having a 3rd with the Puppet Master, even if it´s not the Puppet Master, the 2nd doesn´t have a continuation.

Does this shock you? I knew it wouldn't.

What, the all be worst than the 1st one, of that it doesn´t end with "to be continued..."?
Because being worst than the 1st doesn´t surprise me at all...

 

[Carp Man]

So Frost is completely off the project? I thought he was a collaborator?

Frost could not collaborate with a box of Frosted Flakes. I guess we'll see when the film comes out if he had any input. The first Marco Polo line is when I leave.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Let me rephrase it...

2h movie to introduce Norrin Radd, Galactus and stop the menace

....and the all Doom stealing Radd´s powers.

I´m sorry to say i told you so, but let´s be realist about it, there is no way that this movie will be anything more than the 1st one.
It´s too much for a 2 hour movie to handle, not to mention it will not be any serious and dramatic, there will be no time to dwell on that, so, it will be nothing more than an action movie.

 

[Spider-Fan]

What, the all be worst than the 1st one, of that it doesn´t end with "to be continued..."?
Because being worst than the 1st doesn´t surprise me at all...

I was talking about it ending with a "to be continued". I never got the impression it would, and this pretty much confirms that it won't.

 

[GhostPoet]

Let me rephrase it...

....and the all Doom stealing Radd´s powers.

I´m sorry to say i told you so, but let´s be realist about it, there is no way that this movie will be anything more than the 1st one.
It´s too much for a 2 hour movie to handle, not to mention it will not be any serious and dramatic, there will be no time to dwell on that, so, it will be nothing more than an action movie.

No. It will be an action/comedy. Like the comics.

 

[lordofthenerds]

[/b]
2h movie to introduce Norrin Radd, Galactus and stop the menace......wow

Probably less...remember this is a Fox movie.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Let me rephrase it...

....and the all Doom stealing Radd´s powers.

I´m sorry to say i told you so, but let´s be realist about it, there is no way that this movie will be anything more than the 1st one.
It´s too much for a 2 hour movie to handle, not to mention it will not be any serious and dramatic, there will be no time to dwell on that, so, it will be nothing more than an action movie.

Maybe it will be more than 2hr. I am seeing something about X2 length right now. But, knowing FOX, it could easily be less than 2hr.

 

[Carp Man]

Let me rephrase it...

....and the all Doom stealing Radd´s powers.

I´m sorry to say i told you so, but let´s be realist about it, there is no way that this movie will be anything more than the 1st one.
It´s too much for a 2 hour movie to handle, not to mention it will not be any serious and dramatic, there will be no time to dwell on that, so, it will be nothing more than an action movie.

I chose not to be realistic. I said it before, this movie will suprise many, including you. This movie will not be a 98 minute highlight reel like the 1st. X-Men was 104 minutes, FF 105 minutes. X-Men 2 was 134 minutes. 30 minutes longer. So 2 hours 15 minutes to 2 and a half hours ? Sounds right. 2 and a half hours is a lot of screen time, especially as fast as I think this movie will move. This film will not plod along like the 1st. End to end action is what I see.

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

It´s too much for a 2 hour movie to handle, not to mention it will not be any serious and dramatic, there will be no time to dwell on that, so, it will be nothing more than an action movie.

In the comics Silver Surfer and then Galactus coming to Earth and the Four defeating the Worlds Devourer took 47 pages. Not that much material for 2 movies.

 

[Spider-Fan]

In the comics Silver Surfer and then Galactus coming to Earth and the Four defeating the Worlds Devourer took 47 pages. Not that much material for 2 movies.

I think it can be done, but it needs to be about X2 length, and get to the Surfer's arrival quickly. I see a quick arrival for the Surfer as being very likely, since the cosmic storm in the first was done not too long into the movie.

 

[Carp Man]

I think it can be done, but it needs to be about X2 length, and get to the Surfer's arrival quickly. Which I see as being very likely, since the cosmic storm in the first was done not too long into the movie.

That's my point. The Surfer comes right out of the gate. No ***** footing around. This movie is going to be hard hitting from start to finish. No origin of the Surfer, or any bull like that. Right to the meat of the movie.

 

[Spider-Fan]

That's my point. The Surfer comes right out of the gate. No ***** footing around. This movie is going to be hard hitting from start to finish. No origin of the Surfer, or any bull like that. Right to the meat of the movie.

That is what I see happening. Reference the Surfer's origin a little, but save really going into it for the Silver Surfer spin-off (which is sure to come, since I doubt this movie won't be successful).

 

[Advanced Dark]

I'm glad there's no origin story of the Surfer. I'm sure we'll get a explanation but it's not going to eat up a huge chunk of screen time. Islidur didnt' you rate the Teaser as being "poor". LOL You just have nothing good to say at all do you? You also have already shot this film down as being bad without seeing anything more than a great teaser for a film that's not in PP yet.

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

Frost could not collaborate with a box of Frosted Flakes. I guess we'll see when the film comes out if he had any input. The first Marco Polo line is when I leave.

Ha! I feel you. t:

 

[Malus]

That's my point. The Surfer comes right out of the gate. No ***** footing around. This movie is going to be hard hitting from start to finish. No origin of the Surfer, or any bull like that. Right to the meat of the movie.

I could see the Surfer's origin told as a very quick prologue - its over-the-top cosmic setting would contrast well with the wedding scene following it. And of course we'd know just what was happening from the moment he appears.
I won't complain if they slide over it real quick with some expository dialogue, since it sounds like we will be getting Galactus in the last third. OR: The threat of Galactus will be left open-ended...Life goes on, but the FF know he's coming...

Doom stealing the Surfer's power *and* the showdown with Galactus does sound like a lot to shoehorn into one film, but we have no idea how Payne is interweaving all those elements. I think it could be done well, though.

 

[Retroman]

Nice interview
I'm still not 100% convinced that Payne will deliver the goods. With all due respect this after all the writer of the Simpsons and more worringly My Super-Ex Girlfriend.Its a plus though that he's a fan of the FF.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Islidur didnt' you rate the Teaser as being "poor.

No, i voted for Great or Perfect or whatever it was in the first option.
The teaser is actually good, if you look at it as a clip of the movie, and not a teaser for a movie.
It´s dynamic and the special effects are cool, even if a bit weird in idea (the all Surfer leaving a trail behind when he is flying that resembles cold is way off, the Surfer is not the Iceman).

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

In the comics Silver Surfer and then Galactus coming to Earth and the Four defeating the Worlds Devourer took 47 pages. Not that much material for 2 movies.

Dude, a comic book is not a movie, so, that´s not a good way to make your point.
The FF is not a single issue, but part of an all, which means that are previous book and books after that and so on....