Een omzet van 400 miljoen dollar wereldwijd klinkt niet mis, maar als het om een blockbuster als Superman gaat moet dit een stuk hoger kunnen. Bryan Singers Superman Returns (2006) was de film die Clark Kent moest rebooten op de manier waarop Christopher Nolan dit deed met Batman Begins. Het ontbrak Singers film echter aan de nodige dosis actie en er werd gerommeld met de Superman mythologie. Het grootste gedeelte van de fans liet de film links liggen en er werd net aan 200 miljoen binnengeharkt binnen de VS.

Warner Bros. werkt momenteel aan een reboot met regisseur Zack Snyder. Met de komst van Superman: Man of Steel vindt Singer het toch maar eens tijd om naar buiten te brengen wat hij, achteraf bekeken, van Superman returns vindt.

Hij zegt het volgende over de verwachtingen waaraan niet voldaan werd:

I think that Superman Returns was a bit nostalgic and romantic, and I don’t think that was what people were expecting, especially in the summer. What I had noticed is that there weren’t a lot of women lining up to see a comic book movie, but they were going to line up to see The Devil Wears Prada, which may have been something I wanted to address. But when you’re making a movie, you’re not thinking about that stuff, you’re thinking, “Wow, I want to make a romantic movie that harkens back to the Richard Donner movie that I loved so much.” And that’s what I did.

Zijn algehele mening over de film:

You know, I haven’t really talked about this in depth, so I’m just thinking about this off the fly. It’s hard, because I’m proud of it for what it is. I mean, there are a bunch of movies I’ve made where I’m, like, “Yuck, that was weak” or “That could’ve been better,” and I can see why. But with Superman Returns…. If I could go back, I would have tightened the first act. Maybe open with the plane or something.

Over het einde van de film en hoe hij het nu zou aanpakken:

I’ve always felt that the origin of Superman is the story of Moses – the child sent on a ship to fulfill a destiny. And this was a story about Christ – it’s all about sacrifice: “The world, I hear their cries.” So what happens? He gets the knife in the side and later he falls to the earth in the shape of a crucifix. It was kind of nailing you on the head, but I enjoyed that, because I’ve always found the myth of Christ compelling and moving. So I hoped to do my own take, which is heavy shit for a summer movie. But definitely the nostalgic, romantic aspects of it worked against people’s expectations of it in the climate. And if I was going to do another one, it would be a reboot. I would go back and redo the original, but I only thought of that recently. It would be a much less romantic, more balls-to-the-wall action movie. It would be a very different pace than Superman Returns, which I can say at this point because I have distance from it now.

Het gehele interview lees je hier. Superman: Man of Steel moet overigens ergens in december 2012 in de Nederlandse bioscopen draaien.