John August to write Shazam!

[Batman1939]

on the front page

 

[Cosmic]

Horrible!

 

[emi]

Awesome development, I'm officially intrigued.

 

[Motown Marvel]

who's john august?

 

[odiin]

Wow, so they're actually planning on going forward with this? I'm excited... even though I'm not very happy with the choice of director.

 

[Katsuro]

I was pleased to read this:

August sat down with noted DC Comics writer Geoff Johns for "idiot checking," making sure the filmmakers' approach to the character was consistent with what fans love about him. "I think we're going to be able to be really faithful to the mythology and yet make it completely transparent for people who have no idea who the character is," August said.

Nothin' wrong with that.

 

[odiin]

^ Yeah, hopefully no stupid white costume with grandpa hair.

 

[dpm07]

This is interesting. I'll have to hear and see more before I make judgement.

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

I say Tom Welling would make a great Captain Marvel.

 

[odiin]

Tom Welling is a little too well known as TV's Superman to play Captain Marvel. I think they want to stay as far away from making The World's Mightiest Mortal a Superman clone as possible. There are plenty of other great (better even) actors that could play the part.

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

True and I agree to that but I still think he would do a great job in the role. Really Tom Welling is my pick to play Captain America

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

There was a rumor they were thinking of Brendan Fraser as Captain Marvel.

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

There was a rumor they were thinking of Brendan Fraser as Captain Marvel.

Thats a good choice IMO.

 

[Ben Breeck]

Problem is, is resume seems to consist of Tim Burton directed films. This isn't bad in and of itself, but I just can't see Tim Burton's style working well on a property like this.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

August sat down with noted DC Comics writer Geoff Johns for "idiot checking," making sure the filmmakers' approach to the character was consistent with what fans love about him. "I think we're going to be able to be really faithful to the mythology and yet make it completely transparent for people who have no idea who the character is," August said.

Hahaha, I like that. All writers who are working on a comic book/superhero film should do this.

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/the-big-red-cheese

The Big Red Cheese

And now, the answer to speculation about why I was busy reading up on DC Comics mythology. As announced today in The Hollywood Reporter, I’m writing Captain Marvel. And I’m very, very stoked.
The movie is set up at New Line, with Pete Segal attached to direct. For those who aren’t rabid fans of the character, here’s the briefest of introductions.1
Captain Marvel is a superhero roughly as powerful as Superman, minus the heat-vision and cold breath.2 What’s unique about the character is that in ordinary life, he’s teenager Billy Batson. Speaking the name of the wizard who gave him his powers (Shazam) calls down a magic thunderbolt, transforming him into the studly superhero. But he’s still a teenager in there.
If this to you sounds, “Like Big, but with superpowers,” then congratulations! You now understand Hollywood.
The process of getting hired to write it has taken months. It started with a call from my agent, asking, “Hey, have you ever heard of Captain Marvel?”
The answer was an enthusiastic yes. I was vaguely aware of the character growing up,3 but it wasn’t until the character’s recent resurgence in the DC Comics universe that I started paying attention. Not more than a month before my agent’s call, I’d read a JSA and thought to myself…Someone should make a Captain Marvel movie. And now they were.
Pete Segal and producing parter, Michael Ewing, had already signed on, so the next step was meeting with them and figuring out if we shared the same tone for the movie. It’s not Spider-Man plus jokes. It’s a comic book movie where the characters in it read comics. The story needs to be funny and dramatic even if the villain never shows up. (Don’t worry, there’s a great villain.)
Once we agreed on the framework for the movie, Geoff Johns from DC was gracious enough to come in and idiot-check it for us. Having witnessed the uproar over Spidey’s organic web-shooters, we were all sensitive towards cavalierly changing things. Fortunately, Captain Marvel is pretty movie-friendly already, so we hadn’t bent or broken any mythology.
Between my time at Sundance and Pete’s prep schedule for his next movie (Get Smart), it took weeks to get a meeting with New Line. Going in for the pitch, I was warned that there would be a lot of people in the room. But I wasn’t prepared for the fact that four of the attendees would be sitting in by videoconference. It was incredibly awkward, but I got through it. And I got the job.
In my head, the movie’s called Captain Marvel, but for legal reasons, it will almost certainly be some variation on Shazam! I grumble because people will inevitably assume that the hero’s name is Shazam, when it’s not — Shazam is the old wizard. It’s like calling the Harry Potter movies “Dumbledore.” Then again, the hero isn’t a Captain, and doesn’t live in the Marvel universe. So you’re going to have confusion either way.
I can already anticipate the natural questions which will come up, most of which I can only answer, “I don’t know” or “I’m not allowed to say.” And I should re-iterate the standard disclaimer: most movies don’t get made. But I’m really hoping this one does.

1. The Wikipedia article is terrific, and worth a read if you’re curious. ↩
2. That’s a lazy comparison, but in my experience, the average moviegoer is familiar with roughly five superheroes: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man and Wolverine. And of those, Supes is the closest. ↩
3. Yes, I saw the live-action show. Let us never speak of it again.

1. 
   

 

[odiin]

I'm actually very optimistic about this movie getting made now. I figured the whole thing would just fall through. But I can just imagine the executives sitting around saying "A young teenage boy who can turn himself into a fully grown adult Superhero? now THAT'S fresh. I'm sold!" Although I'm 99% sure this is definitely going to be aimed more at pre-teens and lack the epic quality of other Super Hero movies, it's would still be nice to see a DC movie that isn't about Superman or Batman.

 

[Justice Bringer]

True and I agree to that but I still think he would do a great job in the role. Really Tom Welling is my pick to play Captain America

*pukes*

You need help....

 

[Justice Bringer]

There was a rumor they were thinking of Brendan Fraser as Captain Marvel.

I think theyre more likely to go with someone around the same age range as Bale and Routh.

Late 20s, Early 30s.


Especially if they want sequels over a long period of time.

 

[Dr. Fate]

True and I agree to that but I still think he would do a great job in the role. Really Tom Welling is my pick to play Captain America

Wouldn't that require a lot of blonde hair dye though?

 

[Caliber]

I hope this doesn't work. Captain Marvel is going to be crap if made.

 

[Sun_Down]

It always cool to see a writer that's so enthusiastic about the material. I'm putting this in the cautiously optimistic pile.

 

[terry78]

No one really has the phisque of Marvel except for Puddy, but if you can find a dude in his 20's, more power to you.

 

[Spider - Man]

^I think age would be the only factor keeping Warburton fromn playing Marvel. Other than that, he's be the perfect actor to play a child in a superhero's body.

 

[swifty]

if a younger Fred MacMurray was alive today he would have been the perfect choice for playing more of a classic Marvel.