David S. Goyer is well known as one of Hollywood’s top comic book writers. He has written some of the greatest stories in Superhero films like Blade, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
His collaboration with director Zack Snyder on Man of Steel played a significant role in launching the DCEU.
But the Man of Steel writer recalls one of his bad experiences. While making the DC Extended Universe’s premiere film, he received the worst script notes from WB executives.
The Man of Steel Writer Received the Worst Script Note From WB
In an extensive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, David S. Goyer was asked about the worst studio note he had ever received on one of his films. The writer went on to say:
“One note I got was on Man of Steel, where the ending involves Superman utilizing the pod that he arrived in as a child in order to bring down General Zod’s ship. The note we got from the studio said, ‘You have to change that.’
The writer continued:
We asked why. They said, ‘Because if Superman uses that pod and it’s destroyed while saving the city, how is he ever going to get back home to Krypton?’ There was just this long pause and we said, ‘Krypton blew up. You saw 30 minutes of it!'”
To balance the things in the interview, he also talked about how his writing skills were encouraged during the adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series for Apple TV+.
He also emphasized that studio executives usually asked him things like, “How do you make it more normal? How do you make it fall in line with what the audience would expect?” They encouraged him not to do that, which was unusual for the writer.
Man of Steel Writer Recalled the Time When WB Executive Wanted Him to Crack Marvel’s Formula
WB didn’t only just give the worst studio note to Goyer but also pitched him for 20 movies over the next ten years. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the writer said that there was a time when Warner Bros. was desperate to catch up to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
David S. Goyer said there was too much pressure he was getting from Warner Bros. at that time, and they were like, “We need our MCU! We need our MCU!”
MCU’s formula is to create as many movies as they can. That’s why the writer remembers a point when a person running Warner Bros. (at the time) had “pitched the next 20 movies over the next ten years.” Goyer laughed, “But none of them had been written yet. It was crazy how much architecture was being built on air.”
You can see David S. Goyer’s work in Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel which is available on Max.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
