Hero Complex got the chance to do two things movie fans everywhere would pay good money to do. First they were invited to the editing suite of Christopher Nolan’s Inception, getting a peak this summer’s most mysterious and intriguing movie. While there they also got the chance to talk to Nolan about a few other projects he’s working on. Nothing big. Just Batman 3 and a Superman reboot.

For those who haven’t keen keeping up on Nolan’s Superman/Batman situation (shame on you!) here’s what’s happening in one sentence: David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan are co-writing the script for Batman 3, which Nolan will direct, and they will also be co-writing the script for a Superman reboot, which Nolan will produce. Exciting stuff.

Here’s what Nolan had to say about The Dark Knight co-writer David Goyer coming up with a Superman concept:

“He basically told me, ‘I have this thought about how you would approach Superman. I immediately got it, loved it and thought: That is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way.

“A lot of people have approached Superman in a lot of different ways. I only know the way that has worked for us that’s what I know how to do.”

On Batman 3:

“My brother is writing a script for me and we’ll wait to see how it turns out…he’s struggling to put it together into the epic story that you want it to be.”

“Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third film a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story, and in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story. We have a great ensemble, that’s one of the attractions of doing another film, since we’ve been having a great time for years.”

It looks like Nolan is preparing the third Batman film to be the last, well for him and the world/story he has created at least. I’m sure we’ll be getting more Batman movies after Batman 3, just like we had other Batman movies before Batman Begins.

Nolan also said that the Superman reboot will be in a different universe to his Batman world, so we shouldn’t be expecting any Marvel-like crossovers or a Batman vs. Superman movie.

Update: According to AICN who called Thomas Tull at Legendary Pictures the story is not accurate, and the project isn’t at the script stage yet.

Update 2: Variety say that “Goyer pitched a more action-packed idea that involves Superman battling arch nemesis Lex Luthor and super villain Brainiac”. It seems the original report was correct after all.

Update 3: Now IGN are saying Jonah Nolan will be co-writing the script with Goyer, and that Christopher Nolan will executive-produce. Warner Bros. have basically got the Batman team to work on Superman, which is very exciting indeed. Batman 3 should begin to gear up after Chris Nolan has finished work on Inception .

[Original story below]

Following the announcement that Chris Nolan will be overseeing the production of the new Superman film at Warner Bros., there has been a lot of speculation about what direction the movie will take. Will it be darker, ala The Dark Knight, or will Nolan and Company guide the Man of Steel toward a brighter light?

While those questions can’t be answered just yet, we do have some news that might give us an idea of what to expect. David Goyer, the co-writer of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, has been brought on as the writer for the movie, and Latino Review’s source confirms the long-rumored title: The Man of Steel.

The site claims that Goyer is just helping with the story for the upcoming Batman 3, so work on that script shouldn’t interfere with his writing for Superman. Even if this isn’t the case, I think the guy is talented enough to pull off multiple scripts at the same time. Just look at Kurtzman and Orci: those guys wrote Star Trek, Transformers 2, and were producing multiple films (and a TV show!) all at the same time.

According to their source, Brandon Routh and Bryan Singer are definitely out of the running as actor and director. While no director is signed on yet, word is that Lex Luthor and Brainiac are part of the story and the film will not cover the origin story. Could this finally be the Superman movie we’ve been waiting for? Things are certainly looking that way; this could be a great turnaround for the Man of Steel after the bitter taste left in the public’s mouth from Superman Returns.

News has been dry on the Batman 3 front lately as director Christopher Nolan is busy working on Inception, which will be released in a few months time. However Deadline Hollywood may have got a scoop which suggests a script for The Dark Knight sequel may be in the works.

Recently David Goyer left his position as showrunner on TV show FlashForward, which he said was due to his movie projects ‘ramping up’. We already know one of them is Ghost Rider 2, and another may possibly be Batman 3:

…Goyer’s feature career is really heating up, since he co-wrote Batman Begins, and penned the story for The Dark Knight, and is now writing the third Batman instalment with Chris Nolan’s brother Jonah.

If true that would suggest Warner Bros. want to get a script ready so that Christopher Nolan can start work soon after he has finished on Inception. It is also likely Nolan will be working with Goyer and his brother on the script, just like he did with the previous Batman films.

Collider recently got the chance to talk to Ghost Rider producer Mike De Luca and he gave a bunch on updates on the sequel, including that it may be called Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and if things work out it could begin filming sometime this year.

Here’s a summary of the main points of interest from the interview:

– Mark Steven Johnson is not directing the sequel

– Eva Mendes will not return as Roxanne Simpson

– Ghost Rider 2 (or Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance) will be a hard PG-13

– The film is going to take place in Europe

– De Luca is open to David Goyer directing the sequel but it all comes down to his very busy schedule

– Says the sequel will be like “pushing the reset button” on the franchise

– As you might expect from the success of Avatar, Ghost Rider 2 might be done in 3D

– Says Goyer has just delivered his updated outline to the studio

– And says Ghost Rider 2 could easily be in front of the cameras this year

Last year David Goyer said that the film would take place 8 years after the first film, and that “what Casino Royale was to the Bond movies, hopefully this will be to Ghost Rider”. While this sounds encouraging, I’m not that hopeful it will be that much of an improvement from the first film. I suppose the fact that Mark Steven Johnson won’t be returning to direct is a good thing.

In September David Goyer was brought on-board to tone down his 9 year old R-rated Ghost Rider script and set it up as a sequel to 2007’s Ghost Rider cheesefest. He recently spoke to MTV and revealed some more details on Ghost Rider 2, saying it will be “what Casino Royale was to the Bond movies”.

“It’s not exactly a reboot,” said Goyer, who’s currently hard at work on his “FlashForward” television series. “I hate to say it’s more realistic, because he’s got a flaming skull for a head, but it’s a bit more stripped down and darker. It’s definitely changing tone. What ‘Casino Royale’ was to the Bond movies, hopefully this will be to ‘Ghost Rider.’ This story picks up eight years after the first film,” said Goyer. “You don’t have to have seen the first film. It doesn’t contradict anything that happened in the first film, but we’re pretending that our audience hasn’t seen the first film. It’s as if you took that same character where things ended in the first film and then picked it up eight years later—he’s just in a much darker, existential place.”

Nicolas Cage will be back as the man with the flaming skull, and filming will take place next year.

X-Men Origins: Magneto has been in development hell ever since the writers strike in 2007/2008 and it’s been a frustrating two years. They were scouting for locations and budgeting before the WGA put down their pens, but then David Goyer started working on The Unborn (12% on Rotten Tomatoes) and then he moved onto the his TV show FlashForward.

Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox were waiting to see how X-Men Origins: Wolverine fared ($371 million worldwide), and have since been developing a Wolverine 2, Deadpool and X-Men: First Class. Magneto, however, looks like it will be in development hell for a while.

Collider recently asked Goyer for an update on the project, and he basically said what he’s been saying for the past few months: “I’m busy, Fox are thinking”.

I’ll pretend I didn’t see the part where he didn’t know how to pronounce Magneto (the same Magneto he’s apparently co-wrote a script for, and the same Magneto that’s been in 3 X-Men movies).

I don’t think I want David Goyer to direct Magneto. In the past I was up for it because I wanted to see the movie made and he worked on The Dark Knight, but that has really been the only great thing he’s done and it’s mainly down to Christopher Nolan. Goyer is busy with FlashForward and Ghost Rider 2 anyway. If only there were another director interested in it…

…oh wait, there is! V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin director James McTeigue. From FirstShowing:

To wrap things up, I asked James about the rumor that IMDb lists his name as a co-director (with David Goyer) on the still-in-development X-Men Origins: Magneto movie. As you might’ve expected, that is pretty much a completely BS rumor. “I think David Goyer would probably be surprised about that, actually. I think that’s just one of those rumors that kind of starts… Until he drops out!” McTeigue said he would love to do it, but it’s Goyer’s project, he wrote it, he’ll probably direct, and he won’t touch it since it’s entirely Goyer’s baby.

Imagine having a baby you can’t pronounce the name of! Fox I suggest you give McTeigue a call before Warner Bros. sign him up for the next Superman movie. You don’t want to make the same mistake twice do you!?

(If you do may I suggest Bryan Singer, you may have heard of him, or Alfonso Cuarón. He made Children of Men)

[Magneto and Sentinel image by Livio]

Last month it was reported that David Goyer had been brought on-board to create the story and supervise writers for Ghost Rider 2. Collider recently caught up with Goyer and he spoke a little about what his involvement was.

“I wrote a script for that about 9 years ago. Sony decided and the producers that they wanted to make that as the sequel script. In this case I’m coming on as a producer, and we’re basically just doing a polish. There’s not as much work involved.”

His script was apparently written for an R rating so he will now be working to cut out the violent and sexy stuff to make it PG-13 material. David Goyer co-wrote The Dark Knight which was pretty violent for a PG-13, so it shouldn’t be watered down too much.

We haven’t heard anything solid on Ghost Rider 2 for a while, even though we knew Columbia were interested in making it. Now THR are reporting that David Goyer (The Dark Knight, Blade trilogy) is in early talks to create the story and supervise writers for a film.

Through a spokesperson, Goyer said he hadn’t signed on yet. But plans are already under way to base the sequel on a “Ghost Rider” script written years ago by Goyer, whose superhero work includes hit screen transfers of DC’s “Batman Begins” and Marvel’s “Blade” franchise. The original “Ghost Rider” was scripted by director Mark Steven Johnson.

When the first film was released in 2007 it got mostly negative reviews, but in the end it made around $230 million worldwide (not including DVD sales) so a sequel will probably give everyone involved a nice paycheck. People such as Nicolas Cage, who will be back as the fire skull man.

It’s been a few years since David Goyer was hired to direct X-Men Origins: Magneto and at one point they were scouting for filming locations and working on the budget, however things didn’t work out (possibly due to the writers strike). Then we were told that Magneto would only go ahead if X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a success. Well it was (financially anyway), and I was hoping 20th Century Fox would give it the green-light as they have done with Deadpool. However, we haven’t heard anything yet and the latest comes from David Goyer who gave some slightly encouraging news.

Goyer spoke with MTV News about the long rumored “X-Men Origins: Magneto” project, and while the filmmaker acknowledged its prospects, he also mentioned that “Magneto” is just one in a long line of potential X-films.

“They’re still thinking about doing it,” Goyer revealed to MTV News. “They’re definitely looking into doing other X-Men spinoffs.”

“I’ve been in touch with them,” he said. “I’m sure that project will move forward in the next year or so.”

The problem with Magneto is that it is probably the least ‘commercial’ X-Men movie 20th Century Fox could be working on. X-Men: First Class will have a similar audience to the previous X-Men films but not everyone will want to see Magneto running around with Xavier getting revenge on Navi’s. And while Inglorious Bastards has recently given the whole ‘killing Nazi’ genre a boost, Magneto won’t be doing it with funky music in the background and he won’t have Quentin Tarantino or Brad Pitt.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine proved that people haven’t tired of X-Men franchise just yet as it has made $350 million worldwide, and we already know that a Wolverine 2 is in the early stages of development, as is a Deadpool spin-off. But what about X-Men: First Class and X-Men Origins: Magneto? At one point back in 2007 director David Goyer was scouting for locations to film Magneto, but then the writers went on strike and work on the film stopped. 20th Century Fox focused all of their attention on Wolverine while David Goyer worked on other stuff such as The Dark Knight and The Unborn. Then we got word in October last year that Josh Schwartz had been hired to write the script for X-Men: First Class, which would revolve around Xavier’s first students at his School for Gifted Youngsters.

As it currently stands 20th Century Fox have three X-Men films in development and a spin-off, so which will come first? And in what order? SHH got the chance to speak to David Goyer and he explained what the current thinking at Fox was:

“There have been some preliminary discussions,” he told us about Magneto, adding, “I think, at Fox, they’re trying to decide if making a young X-Men film makes the most sense next, does making a ‘Magneto’ make the most sense next. They’re just trying to decide internally who’s next up.”

Wolverine 2 and Deadpool will come whenever they are ready, but Fox are deciding whether X-Men: First Class or X-Men Origins: Magneto should come first. Early drafts of the Magneto script include a young Charles Xavier who meets up with Magneto on his travels, so would it make sense to show Xavier and Magneto’s origins, then show Xavier setting up his school in First Class? Or do they set up First Class and then show how it all began? If they want do to things in order Magneto would come first. But X-Men Origins: Wolverine has shown that you can go back in time and still have a hit without confusing the audience.

Whatever they decide I just hope they get them right. I think it’s fair to say that the X-Men franchise peaked back in 2003 with X2, but with the money still rolling in will Fox continue to pump out so-so X-Men films or will they hire an X-Men version of Christopher Nolan to give the franchise a kick?