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Wednesday, January 28

ASTRO TRAILER
Get the skinny on the upcoming live-action Astro City movie


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.



Wizard #151
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  • Jim Lee Month!



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