Shane Black's "Doc Savage"

[Consona]

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.

Hehe, it's nice to put things into some perspective.

 

[terry78]

He also has muscles. Every superhero has muscles...ripoff.

 

[Boom]

So they pretty much have to give Johnson the classic Doc Savage haircut, right?

 

[chaseter]

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

Kevin Hart will co-star.

 

[Octoberist]

He just needs the hairstyle he had in The Rundown, but with a more pointy widow's peak. Black Adam style.

Though, I hair has receded since then (he's always had a bad hairline) so it may have to be a wig.

 

[Slick]

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

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

Thanks

 

[Hunter Rider]

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:

I mean his build and physique, not his colour.

 

[Victarion]

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.

At the end of the day, it all depends on how these elements are used. In the hands of a great screenwriter and director, the visual similarities should become secondary to the story being told. In this case, I have a lot of faith in Black's abilities as a director based off his work with Iron-Man 3.

 

[Octoberist]

I feel like the movie shouldn't be overly self-aware, but self-aware enough to wink at the camera to the audience once in a while. Don't make it a comedy..make it comedic.

If you play it too straight, it'll be too cheesy or disconnected.

 

[Octoberist]

That's why the 1975's version of Doc Savage is a weird watch; they played it too straight while keeping the over-the-top stuff. It feels like a movie made 10 years too late (feels really 60's), and it's hard to tell if the comedy was intentional or not.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

Dwayne Johnson is slowly turning himself into the Guillermo del Toro of actors.

My thoughts exactly.

The difference being he's in the position to legit get films greenlit, i.e. made (A buddy internally once told me Johnson "won't roll out of bed for $10 million!") That is what star power is.

But there's only so much time one can dictate to projects. The nature of the beast, some projects go full steam ahead, others lose momentum and languish (and maybe pick up again later... or maybe not). It seems like you throw a rock (no pun intended) and find another Johnson-headliner in development.

And Shane Black, with all due respect, isn't at the position to guarantee this happens. The Nice Guys is a critical darling, but like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang it's doing terrible business. The Predator is happening next (Fox just officially dated it) but... is that a property the world is hungering for? With or without Arnold before anyone asks. I love him... but a box-office draw anymore he is not as Yoda would say.

Knocking on wood for this one. Much better project on paper for Johnson than, say, a Big Trouble in Little China redo.

 

[NotSoLongAgo]

I'm really looking forward to this. It sounds so interesting

 

[Neno_Kos]

I'm really looking forward to this. It sounds so interesting

it does. t:

 

[Peyton Westlake]

Well I will say the Rock can put a bit of comedy into his acting, not necessarily what a Doc Savage movie needs for every scene but I think it would work and he can take care of the action scenes.
Think of Arnold in his action movies and cheesy one liners.
Thats what this has to be.

 

[terry78]

My thoughts exactly.

The difference being he's in the position to legit get films greenlit, i.e. made (A buddy internally once told me Johnson "won't roll out of bed for $10 million!") That is what star power is.

But there's only so much time one can dictate to projects. The nature of the beast, some projects go full steam ahead, others lose momentum and languish (and maybe pick up again later... or maybe not). It seems like you throw a rock (no pun intended) and find another Johnson-headliner in development.

And Shane Black, with all due respect, isn't at the position to guarantee this happens. The Nice Guys is a critical darling, but like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang it's doing terrible business. The Predator is happening next (Fox just officially dated it) but... is that a property the world is hungering for? With or without Arnold before anyone asks. I love him... but a box-office draw anymore he is not as Yoda would say.

Knocking on wood for this one. Much better project on paper for Johnson than, say, a Big Trouble in Little China redo.

I'm actually shocked Black hasn't put The Rock in for Predator.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

Perhaps he will. There has been some indication Black was vying for a big name to headline (with the tease of a Batman actor, I think?)

 

[Moridin]

Black said waiting for Johnsons schedule to free up for Doc was a reason he could do Predator now.

As far as a Batman actor, yeah there was a rumour a while back saying one of them might be attached. Curtis Jackson was also saying earlier this year that he might be working on it.

 

[GreenKToo]

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

Think indy jones mixed with sherlock holmes, a dash of alan quartermain, and sprinkled with some batman and superman.
So an action adventure, fantasy, superhero film.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

I would have settled for the Rock in the new Predator with Arnold in a minor role or at least a cameo explaining what the Predator is and how to kill it.

 

[Rowsdower!]

The Rock is in everything these days... Why not Predator too?

 

[Peyton Westlake]

The Rock is in everything these days... Why not Predator too?

That is true.
Is part of the reason why anything w/the Rock attached to it I take with a grain of salt.
Im sure if he got this involved it is 50% of the way there but im sure if you research the past there had to be projects he was in that fizzled out like any other actor.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yeah, probably. I'm still concerned that Shazam might not happen, especially since DC is kind of a mess after BvS. I remember the Rock being loosely attached to a Shazam movie years ago and that ended up dying.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

Yeah, probably. I'm still concerned that Shazam might not happen, especially since DC is kind of a mess after BvS. I remember the Rock being loosely attached to a Shazam movie years ago and that ended up dying.

What ever was the status of that? I wasnt sure if the Shazam movie was 100% linked to the DC film universe even.
Has BvS really destroyed the DC film universe that bad?
According to several sites it grossed $867 million. Is that bad??

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

This reminds me of the late 90's when Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont were going to do Doc Savage with Arnold. Imagine that reality.

 

[aNarcHy2day]

Yeah, probably. I'm still concerned that Shazam might not happen, especially since DC is kind of a mess after BvS. I remember the Rock being loosely attached to a Shazam movie years ago and that ended up dying.

Given that he hosted the MTV Movie Awards wearing a Black Adam T-Shirt and (jokingly) challenged Marvel I wouldn't say the movie is dead at all. But ya, movement on that front has been extremely slow.