“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” director David F. Sandberg recently participated in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Instagram, and revealed that while he once was interested in making a Superman movie, he’s now decided against ever being involved in taking on the Man of Steel, or indeed the Justice League.
When asked if there was another DC superhero he would be interested in taking on, Sandberg replied, “At one point I would have said Superman, but when there are so many different expectations and hardcore fans you’re going to piss off so many people no matter what you do.”
“Seeing how people react to things like The Last Jedi makes me want to stay away from things like that. Shazam! was perfect in that there hadn’t been that many adaptations before. There are still people who think it was done wrong, but it was on a manageable level.”
Same goes for the idea of taking on the Justice League…
“I think that would be too big for me. Too much expectations as well.”
With the level of scrutiny fans place on anything to do with Superman, it’s not surprising that directors like Sandberg might shy away from taking on the Man of Steel.
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is set to be released on December 16, 2022.
Wow. Too SCARED to try? I was going to say something that might get me kicked off the site, but instead I will just say how did he manage to get where he’s at today by being so timid?
He’s not wrong. Hardcore fans (of any property) are among the most obnoxious bunch there is, and their reactions on social media is among the most toxic there is.
He’s making it seem like it’s solely superman fans though or at least he’s singling us out. I would say there’s a bunch of fandoms that are much worse. Sure any fandom has some vocal toxicity, but cmon…superman fans are hardly on that level.
The problem as I see it is that the Superman fandom is the epitome of the broken base, and they’re all pretty vocal about it. Personally, I’m in the “wait and see” camp these days, but I can definitely see things that could happen to get my dander up. Right now, it’s nearly impossible to pick a direction without a very vocal (though “loud” shouldn’t be construed as a majority or even a plurality) and possibly vitriolic response.
I think these are all just poor excuses. It’s quite simple, you can;t handle the “toxic” social media? Fine, turn it off. It’s quite simple. And please save any retorts about it not being that simple or that’s impossible in his line or he’ll hear about it other ways. Similarly poor excuses. His response is that of yet another cynic who does not understand the character. So in that sense, i’m glad he doesn’t want to direct him.
I agree sundevil82. Putting the blame on us fans isn’t a good excuse for not trying to make a Superman film.
Well, that sucks. If I were a director, I wouldn’t worry too much about fan exceptions. I would just stick with what most people are familiar with – classic Superman who wants to protect Metropolis and be a beacon of hope for all. I would also include Supergirl and the rest of the Super-family in the sequels The Super-family would deal with villains well beyond Lex Luthor and Zod. How hard is this? The Superman & Lois tv show director and writers did a pretty good job on this.
That’s a shame..He did well with Shazam and there’s a good tradition of horror directors doing great work with Superheroes I.E Donner, Raimi, etc. But fans can be too much, when it comes to these properties. It’s completely lost on them that if they don’t like one version, they’ll be another one coming around the corner, nor does the new version invalidate a previous version they like…Far too possessive and hostile, which results in talent being chased away.
[…] Instagram efectuada la semana pasada, Sandberg respondió si él haría una película de Superman (https://www.supermanhomepage.com/david-f-sandberg-wont-go-near-superman-because-of-fans/): “En un momento hubiera dicho Superman, pero cuando hay tantas expectativas diferentes y […]
Give me a break. Just another excuse. There’s a reason people hate the last Jedi/ new Star Trek / other new takes on IP’s and that’s because they disrespected the characters. If you treat the characters with respect rather than putting your ‘own spin’ on it or ‘subverting expectations’ then people will enjoy it.
I’ll Chalk this up to the same ol ‘superman is unrelatable’ garbage. No, you’re just not as creative as you think you are.
ding ding ding ! Exactly
Interesting point that you bring about The Last Jedi. When I first saw it, I was ok with it. Then I saw it a second time and thought it wasn’t as good as when I saw it the first time. When I saw it the third time, I literally fell asleep. I kid you not, I was asleep half way into the movie. The movie just kept getting worse each time I saw it. Yeah there were some scenes that I did like. Like the Rey and Kylo vs the Pretorian Guards fight scene. But most of the film I… Read more »
It’s pretty understandable. No one wants to set themself up for failure. I bet if he or another director had a great idea – for a property that has been used a lot – something fresh, new and original, using the characters that are well-loved in a way that doesn’t betray their history, I bet then that director would WANT to direct a Superman film.Get the audience to love Superman and that’s really all you need to pull them in. My 2 cents. lol
I’ll take the job!! I’ll even bring it in for less than $200 Million. But I get creative control, and get to decide what gets to be released to the press and when. Iron-clad NDAs from every actor and crew member, with canary traps and penalties totalling the negative costs of production.
*Also WB has to pay for me to go to film school, but that’s a minor detail.
I do think it’s true that no matter what kind of Superman movie is made, there will be a part of the Superman fan base that for whatever reason won’t be happy. However, I think it’s worse to not even try if given the opportunity to direct a Superman film. That’s like saying ”yeah this company is offering me more money for the job, and I could probably really do well for myself. But I’m not going accept the offer because what if I don’t get along with my coworkers or employer? I think it’s best not to try.” He… Read more »
Be careful not to take David’s comments out of context. He isn’t attacking the “toxic fans” or anything like that. He’s simply stating that he doesn’t believe that his creative vision for Superman won’t be accepted by a vast majority of fans. Superman has been around since 1938 and has come to represent so many different things to a lot of different people.