Wednesday, January 28
Producer Ben Barenholtz (“Requiem for a Dream”), screenwriter Jonathan Alpers and creator Kurt Busiek have teamed up to produce a live-action Astro City film. Alpers sat down with Wizard to discuss the project and more!
How close are you working with [Astro City
creator] Kurt Busiek on the actual script for the
movie?
Well, you know, Kurt and I are working
together really. I'm doing the screenwriting mostly,
but I'm working directly off of his outline. So, you
know, [producer] Ben [Barenholtz] and I and Kurt
started a company together where we're equal partners
so we work together pretty closely.
It seems to me that one of the things that comic book
movies do wrong a lot is eliminate the guy that
created it, the creative side, which doesn't make any
sense. It doesn't seem like the right thing to do to
eliminate Kurt from the decision-making stuff. I
think you always run into a little bit of a problem
when the guy that created anything, either a
screenplay or what have you, is too close to it and
not making logical decisions, but I don't think that's
what's happening here.
Is this going to end up being a pretty faithful
adaptation?
Yeah, that's my main objective, and I don't think that
should be too difficult to maintain. It's not going to
be easy to do, you know. It's interesting because I've
been working with Ben for a while and when we first
approached Kurt, and when Ben first approached me on
my own project, the first thing he said was, "What
would be your heart's desire with this project?" Along
the way, you have to make compromises as people come
and different things change. But when you start from
that place of "Let's try and do this as beautifully
and perfectly as we can," that's sort of the best way
to do it. It seems to me that a lot of times, that's
not what people do. They start with, "How can we screw
this up the most?"
Are there any particular storylines you're interested
in adapting?
Kurt basically handed me a great outline for a movie.
It's not necessarily a perfect outline, and we had to
make some changes, but this outline is based on his
comics. Basically this is his idea for what an Astro
City movie would be. When we started developing it, I
said, "We need something to hang this movie on. We
need a structure of some sort." Kurt's comic books
have a structure. People say they don't have a main
character and stuff like that, but they do. They have
a beautiful structure, every single one of them. It
just changes when he feels like it. The movie will
have a structure as well. For instance, we'll probably
create one major villain for this movie. That's the
kind of thing we have to do to keep it moving forward
as a movie, and I think that keeps it faithful to what
Kurt has done, because Kurt did not create a
hodgepodge of different stories; he created great
individual stories.
Are there any particular Astro City characters that
you have an affinity for?
I like a lot of them. I like Jack-in-the-Box. I think
he's an interesting character, and I just like his
toys. I like Looney Leo as well. Our company's name is
Panama Leo, which Kurt came up with. That's taken
directly from one of Looney Leo's movies. It comes
right up on the screen and says "Panama Leo." I also
like Junkman. There are just a lot of great characters
in there. That's what's so nice about it; you could
just go on and on and on with the characters.
Do you think it's the characters that make Astro City
one of the best comics out there?
There's a lot of comic books with a lot of great
characters, but what Kurt does that's different from
most is that he tells the stories from a point of view
that's slightly different. He endeavors to try and get
into the minds of the heroes, whereas, like Superman,
you don't care what he's thinking. You certainly
don't know and you don't care. I think that's what's
nice about it. The angle of taking it from the
everyman as well, on the street, I think is what makes
it interesting. It's great character stuff, but the
fact that they just take it from the guy who's
standing on the street watching the superhero as well
is what makes it good.
Do you have any aspirations to write comics?
Well, I'm a screenwriter, but it's funny because I did
write a movie that didn't get made called "Zombie
Squad" that would have made a great comic.
You were saying before that some of the other comic
movies are almost butchered in a sense. What do you
think of the current crop of comic book movies that's
out there?
Well, not a lot of them are butchered, but I mean, I
like "Howard the Duck." I like some of them. I really
like more of the independent ones, "Ghost World" and
"American Splendor" were great. I really liked
"Spider-Man" because I just like Sam Raimi, but it was
very well done. "Hulk" I'm sort of on the fence about.
What's going to set "Astro City" apart?
When Kurt and I were first discussing the story
structure, we were just kind of saying, "Let's do
this, let's do this, let's do that." And I took it
home and I looked at it and I started putting together
an outline and I was like, "Oh my God. This is the
biggest movie I've ever seen in my life." [Laughs]
It's just the combination of the different story
structure that we've put together makes it massive.
It's like a superhero extravaganza, because every one
of those superheroes is doing their own little feats
that would be their own little movie, but this one is
just one after another after another. I think what's
going to be interesting about this, and we'll see how
it flies, is that I'm kind of hoping to take the movie
from different perspectives and do almost sort of an
arthouse take on something, but it's not an arthouse
film˜it's a big film. So, the combination of those
different perspectives and the high-octane action, I
think is going to be interesting, but I think that's
what's good about this comic book.
With that in mind, are there any particular actors or
directors that you're hoping to snag?
It's funny because actors are fun to think about right
now, because you could just do it all day, but I
haven't really gotten a good idea yet. We're starting
to think about who we want to direct it, and the list
is extensive. Kurt's got his favorites. I've got my
favorites. They tend to be some of the bigger
directors out there. I mean, Kurt's very character
oriented. He's kind of looking for somebody that can
do the action stuff but do the character stuff as
well.
Who would you cast for Jack-in-the-Box, since he's one
of your favorites?
Jack-in-the-Box seems to me to be an older guy, and I
don't want to say Denzel Washington but... [Laughs] Kurt
said something about Denzel Washington for the
Samaritan, and I'm like, "You're kidding me." That's
the sort of regal quality that he's looking for. It's
really tough to cast, the Samaritan in particular.
He's more Superman than Superman is. He's saint-like.
What about Looney Leo?
Well, he's animated, you know? I'm personally making
sure that Looney Leo makes it in the movie at some
point.
Is "Astro City" something you could potentially see as
a franchise because of all those stories?
Well yeah, absolutely, but one thing at a time.
What's your projected estimate for kicking this thing
into gear?
Uh...tomorrow. [Laughs] You know, Astro City is a unique
comic book and Hollywood isn't real thrilled on unique
concepts. Now directors are, and actors are, and I
think audiences are, but studio people, they want
Superman, they want Batman. So, there's a lot of
educating the market, which is Hollywood, about what
Astro City is.
What's your pitch for this movie to a Hollywood
executive?
I'm not really a pitch guy. I'm sort of the quality
guy. I think it's the most spectacular comic book
movie ever made, personally, because it tells things
from two different perspectives. One is the action and
one is the personal character stuff. It's what fans
seem to always feel like they're lacking. But I'm not
a pitch guy. I'm writing the treatment for the movie
right now, and it's just torture to me because I'm a
character guy. I'm a story guy. When you get into
pitches, I feel like I'm trying to pull the wool over
someone's eyes when I can just easily write the script
and say, "Here it is. Do you like it or not?" The
proof is in the pudding, as they say.
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