Shane Black's "Doc Savage"

[Moridin]

What studio is releasing this movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606752/companycredits?ref_=tt_dt_co

Sony, Original Film, & DC Entertainment. Colombia are distributing in the US.

 

[hbenthow]

For yourself hb, and anyone else who knows, what are Docs supporting characters like and what actors would you like to see cast?

Doc has five sidekicks, often collectively known (albeit not in the novels themselves) as the Fabulous Five. (It has been speculated that the Fantastic Four may have been partially inspired by the Fabulous Five).

Andrew Blodgett "Monk" Mayfair. A short, apelike chemist. He's very muscular, a bit rude and grumpy, and has a sarcastic sense of humor. Think of a human version of the Thing from the Fastastic Four. As for who to cast as him, I don't know of anyone that quite matches his physical characteristics. Maybe Andy Serkis or Michael Chiklis under a ton of prosthetics?

Theodore Marley "Ham" Brooks. A sophisticated lawyer with an impeccable sense of style and a hint of arrogance. He and Monk bicker nearly nonstop (the two have a feud that goes back to WWI, when Monk allegedly framed him for stealing a ham). Maybe Jude Law or Tom Hiddleston.

John "Renny" Renwick. A gigantic engineer with a glum, puritanical face. He towers over even Doc himself, and has extraordinarily gigantic and powerful fists. The happier he gets, the more sour-faced he looks. Michael Shannon certainly has the glum part down pat, although he's a bit smaller than ideal.

William Harper "Johnny" Littlejohn. A tall, thin geologist with black hair. He started out with a monocle (having been blinded in one eye in WWI), but later got glasses when Doc fixed his blind eye with surgery. He's fond of using big words and using such exclamations as "I'll be superamalgamated!" I'm not sure who could play him.

Thomas J. "Long Tom" Roberts. A pale, sickly-looking electrical engineer. He's stronger and healthier than he looks. I'm not sure who could play him either.

Also, Doc's cousin Patricia "Pat" Savage made occasional appearances. She had bronze skin and hair like Doc (although the bronze color of her skin was milder than that of Doc's). She was feisty and strong-willed, and would sometimes tag along on adventures even if Doc didn't want her to. I could see Elena Satine or Katheryn Winnick in the role.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Inept would be true strong a word then. I'm just going by what I heard Black say about him being this guy who can do anything physically, but when a woman thanks him or interacts with him, he clams up.

So does that mean Doc is a virgin?

 

[Logan0327]

^sounds like the guy in your avatar

 

[Asgard]

The Rock played a Doc Savage-ish character on SNL.



Lol.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Shane Black is a deity, and I like the Rock. Keep the good news coming

 

[Consona]

The Rock played a Doc Savage-ish character on SNL.



Lol.

WTF

 

[dude stannis]

Fantastic news. A perfect storm of film makers, star and source material. The more pulpy stuff out there the better.

 

[The_Lost]

I've waited a long time for this one. I read Doc Savage in the early 70's and loved
the feel of the 30's style world in revolved in. Hope they keep that aura in the movie.
Please don't revamp it to modern times. Be following the news on this one closely.

 

[Rowsdower!]

^sounds like the guy in your avatar

Not true! Jon banged Ygritte! We even saw it!

(And in real life too, lucky bastard!)

 

[Doctor Jones]

So does that mean Doc is a virgin?

I mean going by that logic loosely sure. But I'm no expert on this character.

 

[C. Lee]

So does that mean Doc is a virgin?

Think of Arnold Schwarzenneger in the movie TWINS. He was raised by scientists and doctors to be a perfect genius and physical specimen....but they didn't use many women to teach him anything. He spent his entire youth up until the age of 16 pretty much not being around a woman (and at age 16 he left his teachers to run off and fight in WWI). In the books it has him many times say - the one thing in the world I will never understand is a female. He doesn't understand them, he is nervous around them, depending on the woman (and of course in the books they are all gorgeous) they distract him and he has to concentrate on not thinking about them (a thing to remember...at the time they were written, most pulps were bloody sex filled books...they deliberately made these books less bloody and less sex filled to hit a different audience).

 

[hbenthow]

a thing to remember...at the time they were written, most pulps were bloody sex filled books...they deliberately made these books less bloody and less sex filled to hit a different audience).

Very true. Part of the reason that Doc Savage was created in the first place was because of the backlash that many parents had against their children reading pulp magazines, which often featured a lot of violence and racy situations.

Street & Smith decided to remedy this by coming up with a pulp character that was the ultimate role model: as moral, disciplined, intelligent, and healthy as a human being could possibly be (and then some.) He did kill for a little while, but that was soon changed as well (after the second novel, I believe), and he swiftly got a no-kill rule.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Think of Arnold Schwarzenneger in the movie TWINS. He was raised by scientists and doctors to be a perfect genius and physical specimen....but they didn't use many women to teach him anything. He spent his entire youth up until the age of 16 pretty much not being around a woman (and at age 16 he left his teachers to run off and fight in WWI). In the books it has him many times say - the one thing in the world I will never understand is a female. He doesn't understand them, he is nervous around them, depending on the woman (and of course in the books they are all gorgeous) they distract him and he has to concentrate on not thinking about them (a thing to remember...at the time they were written, most pulps were bloody sex filled books...they deliberately made these books less bloody and less sex filled to hit a different audience).

Haha okay, I get it. By the way, I love Twins. Probably Arnold's best comedic film.

I wonder if this film will be set back in time or if it will be a present day take on the character. I hope it's a period piece, but I could understand if they wanted to update it.

 

[hbenthow]

I wonder if this film will be set back in time or if it will be a present day take on the character. I hope it's a period piece, but I could understand if they wanted to update it.

From the very beginning, Shane Black has been adamant that it be a period piece.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Oh okay, great. Didn't know that.

 

[C. Lee]

Think of Doc as Spock with muscles. One of the things in the books....Doc pinches nerves in people's neck to knock them out....I'd like to see that in the movie, but people would just say they were ripping off Spock, when Doc actually did it 30 years earlier.

 

[Victarion]

So is this going to be a blend of SF and fantasy?

 

[C. Lee]

It should be SF action. The books are science fiction action adventure oriented. Typical storylines - Someone invents something based on science that isn't available at the time, bad guys steals it and uses it to commit crimes, Doc comes in and stops them (many people die, lots of fights and explosions) - Crooks find a lost civilization and plan on exploiting them, Doc finds out and stops them (many people die, lots of fights and explosions).

In the books, Doc finds an island off of New Zealand full of dinosaurs, in the arctic an underground land of cavemen and prehistoric type animals, he finds a lost Egyptian civilization in the Amazon jungle, a very advanced civilization living under the earth who have ships that can travel through solid bedrock.....he battles dictators who send their entire country's army against him, gangsters with hundreds of tommy gun carrying henchmen, an evil scientist creates a formula that makes men grow 50' tall to wreck havoc, crooks use an anti-gravity ship to zoom around at 500 miles an hour, Enemies of the United States create a chemical "red snow" that dissolves anything it touches, spies steal a formula for a substance that destroys the oxygen in the air and starts killing U.S. soldiers in mass.......

 

[Doctor Jones]

I just hope this doesn't become a John Carter situation. I hope this isn't the case of the thing that most things were influenced by just comes off as a rip off. It doesn't matter if Darkseid was created before Thanos or John Carter was here before Star Wars. Now in a perfect world, it should make sense that people get that, but how movies work it's about what happens first. It doesn't matter if it was the original. If people saw other things from it first, there's a diminished impact.

And yet I do think Black could pull this off. His explanation for Savage still rings as unique concept amidst all these superhero movies and most importantly a great movie.

 

[C. Lee]

Some things that if they put in the movie....people will think he ripped off of others.

Doc Savage First published in 1933 (Lester Dent started writing him in late 1932 to be out by then).
Superman first published in 1938.
Batman first published in 1939.

Doc - A billionaire genius trained since birth to be the best at everything he did to prepare him to fight crime.
Batman - a billionaire trained since childhood to be the best at everything he did to prepare him for fighting crime.

Doc - nick name - The Man of Bronze.
Superman - nick name is The Man of Steel

Doc - He is called - a "superman".
Superman - self explanatory.

Doc - His first name is Clark.
Superman - his first name is Clark.

Doc - He has a secret retreat above the arctic circle he calls his "Fortress of Solitude".
Superman - he has a secret retreat above the arctic circle he calls his "Fortress of Solitude".

Doc - Wears a utility "vest" that contains hundreds of gadgets and chemicals for all occasions.
Batman - wears a utility "belt" that contains hundreds of gadgets and chemicals for all occasions.

Doc - Has a female cousin (Patricia Savage) that has similar hair, skin and eye coloring who helps him on his adventures.
Superman - has a female cousin that has powers like him.

Doc - knocks out people with a neck pinch.
Spock - knocks out people with a neck pinch.

Doc - has a secret warehouse he can get to by a secret tunnel from the top of the Empire State Building that contains planes, boats, helicopters, and a submarine.
Batman - has a secret cave he can get to from his mansion by a secret elevator that contains planes, boats, helicopters, and a submarine.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I guess The Rock fits the role physically and is looking craggier these days.

 

[Young Superman]

Great news.

 

[Kane52630]

Doc Savage + Shane Black + The Rock = count me the **** in

 

[Consona]

I guess The Rock fits the role physically

Visually, he's completely different type, IMO. Egyptian Scorpion king? Absolutely. Classic '30s pulp hero? Absolutely not.

But the deal is done, so... I can only wait to be pleasantly surprised. t: