BATMAN: An Interview with Michael Uslan [Archived from Batman on Film]

BATMAN: An Interview with Michael Uslan

DATE: November 8, 2005

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Author: "Jett"

Michael Uslan

Michael Uslan ©image by Kendall Whitehouse, Asbury Park Comic Con 2013

PART ONE

As a young child, I absolutely loved the 60s “BATMAN” TV series which starred Adam West in the title role. I thought it was serious, dead serious. Of course, this when I was around five - give or take a few years. As I’ve said previously, I credit this old TV show with being the reason that I’ve been such a big Batman fan my entire life. Also, it led to my fascination with the live-action depiction of the character.

As the 1970s arrived, I became a serious comic book reader. And by far, the majority of my comic books were those starring The Batman - “BATMAN,” “DETECTIVE,” “BRAVE AND THE BOLD,” “BATMAN FAMILY,” and others. The Batman I cut my teeth on in the comic books of the 70s was not the same character that was featured in the 60s TV series. I preferred this dark and serious Batman - The Dark Knight - compared to the campy, pot-bellied, Adam West version.

In December 1978 I went to a local theater to see SUPERMAN: THE MOVE. This film blew me away and it remains one of my favorite all-time films to this day. But even though it has been almost 30 years since I sat in that theater and watched Christopher Reeve’s classic portrayal of the Man of Steel, I clearly remember thinking “They have to do this for Batman!”

Fast forward a decade plus to June of 1989. Again I am sitting in a darkened theater watching another comic book character brought to life. But this time, it was my comic book character - my childhood hero was getting his due on the big screen in the excellent, Tim Burton-directed BATMAN.

Over the next eight years, I found myself in theaters for three Bat-sequels. During this span, we saw two directors at the helm and three different actors put on the cape and cowl as the Bat-franchise went steadily down the tubes. Through it all, the definitive BATMAN film had yet to be made. As good as BATMAN was in ‘89, the character had yet to have his SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE produced. Would the gosh-awful and insulting BATMAN AND ROBIN be it for The Batman on film?

Then came 2005 and BATMAN BEGINS. Thanks to Christopher Nolan, David Goyer, Christian Bale and company, The Batman finally got his definitive live-action film. And arguably, he is the focus of the greatest comic book based movie of all time.

But while we throw out accolades to Nolan, Burton, Keaton, Bale, and others, there is someone else that we need to tip our hat to. The man who I believe is the “Godfather” - if you will - of the BATMAN movie franchise.

Michael Uslan [MU]

The story of finally getting a Batman movie made is a fascinating one at that. It was not as easy as one may believe. In fact, it was a process that took well over a decade. So to tell the story, we have to go back a good deal of time and then progress forward to 1989.

JETT: So, you were always a Batman fan?

MU: Yes. When I was young, it was my dream to write “Batman” comic books. I identified strongly with the character. He had no superpowers and had the greatest rouges gallery. When I was eight, nine, ten years old, I always thought that if I studied and worked out real hard and I got the right car, I could do this - I could be Batman.

JETT: That's it! BOF received a lot of press around the time of BATMAN BEGINS, and I told all those guys the same thing! You always thought that maybe YOU could be Batman. Anyway, I know you worked for DC COMICS writing Batman stories. How did you get involved with producing a live-action BATMAN film?

MU: It was like an epiphany. It just hit me: “I want to make the definitive, dark, serious version of Batman - the way Bob Kane and Bill Finger had envisioned him in 1939. A creature of the night; stalking criminals in the shadows." And that became it, that became my focal point. If I knew then [laughs], how long it would have taken me to get that first picture done [BATMAN (1989)], I don’t know what I would have done. But that’s when everything started.

I went to see the president of DC COMICS - who I believe was Sol Harrison at the time - and I said “I want to do this.” And he looked at me like I was crazy. And Sol had mentored me into the [comic book] business, and I was very close to him. And he said “Michael, Batman is as dead as a dodo” - and that’s a quote - “since it went off on TV.” He says to me, “No one is interested in Batman. The only interest has been from CBS who wanted to know if the rights were available because they wanted to do a BATMAN IN OUTER SPACE movie." I said “Sol, I really believe I can do this.” He then advised me to go get credentials, and when I had the credentials, come back and see him. He assured me that in the meantime, no one would take the rights to Batman.

That’s when I went out and finished law school. I got a job working for United Artists as a motion picture studio attorney. And it was my almost four years at UA…where I learned how to produce movies. And where I met all the people in the business - agents and studio execs and entertainment lawyers, writers, directors, stars. So, it was the greatest training in the world. It was almost like graduate school

So I went back to Sol and said, “ OK, I want to do this.” Sol said, “OK, come on and I’ll introduce you to the guy you need to talk to." And that’s how the process began. Sol played a large role in getting Batman movie thing started and his contribution should be acknowledged.

JETT: The Tom Mankiewicz script [THE BATMAN]. How long was it the basis for the movie?

MU: Well, you got to go back to before the beginning. When I first landed the rights to Batman, it was about April of 1979. And the biggest impact in the field [comic book movies] at that time was the James Bond franchise - and by that I mean the more serious movies with Sean Connery - and SUPERMAN: THE MOVE. Tom Mankeiwicz was responsible for a couple of the greatest James Bond films. Beforehand, when we were just starting optioning the picture, we had conversations with Richard Maibaum. We talked to Guy Hamilton, who was a major Bond director. And those things were a great influence at the time. And Tom Mankeiwicz not only had a prominent role in many Bond films, but he also had a prominent role in SUPERMAN. So Tom was the most obvious of all the “superstar” writers of that time to talk to about formulating BATMAN.

But when he started writing - which would have been around 1980 - from my point of view, with BATMAN, we had the opportunity to create something different. To do the kind of “comic book movie” that had never been done before - a dark, serious, much more realistic approach. And Bill, it’s the same reason we were both drawn to Batman - I don't mean to speak for you but I think we're pretty much the same. We loved him as a kid because he had no super powers. His greatest super power is his humanity.

JETT: Exactly. That’s exactly right. He’s just a tremendous character.

MU: Yes he is. And he also has the greatest villains. That’s the reason certain superheroes survive the longest - they have best villains. And that is certainly another strong point for Batman.

Well, going back to the beginning, people - in the Hollywood community - weren’t understanding what I was saying [about a dark, serious BATMAN film]. “Batman is a pot-bellied funny guy with ‘Pows, Zaps, and Whams. It’s silliness. “ And I’d tell them “No it’s not.” They couldn’t get it. Even when I showed them [the dark Batman comic books - old and current]. And those were the only ones I showed Tim Burton - I only let Tim see the original year of the Bob Kane/Bill Finger run, up until the time that Robin was introduced. I showed him the Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers and the Neal Adams/Denny O'Neil stories. My biggest fear was that somehow Tim would get hold of the campiest Batman comics and then where would we be?

So I sat down and worked with a friend of mine on a script titled RETURN OF THE BATMAN - I’ve never talked about this before. This was in - whoa - this was still in the 70s. I wanted to do it not because this was what the film would be, but to give people some idea of just what the hell I was talking about! It really was about ten years before “The Dark Knight Returns” - it was that sort of approach to it. And that helped me convince a few people in Hollywood what I was trying to accomplish.

But the fact of the matter, by the time I acquired the rights to the character with my partner Ben Melniker - who is a legend in the motion picture business - it took us time to raise the money privately that we needed, and on October 3, 1979 we formed BATFILM PRODUCTIONS, INC. And acquired the rights to Batman.

And I was so sure that every studio in Hollywood was going to line up at my door to do BATMAN.

But to Mr. Uslan's surprise, that certainly was not to be the case!

NEXT: Mr. Uslan talks about the continuing struggle to get a serious BATMAN made and how it finally came to fruition. Plus, how Tim Burton convinced him Michael Keaton could and should play The Batman.

PART TWO

DATE: November 11, 2005

Author: "Jett"

Michael Uslan

Previously, we learned of Michael Uslan’s mission - if you will - to bring a dark and serious BATMAN film to theaters. A mission and process that proved to be a decade-long.

One of the biggest problems in bringing The Batman to the big screen was the mindset of the Hollywood execs in the late 70s and 80s - they just didn’t “get it.” To them, Batman was a goof, something from the “funny pages.”

And Uslan was not about to see Batman made a mockery of on the big screen.

JETT: How did you and Mr. Melniker pitch BATMAN?

MU: There was not term “franchise” like there is today. Ben and I used the idea that it was a “pre-sold” property. This is a property known all over the world to multiple generations. And if we do our job correctly, it will appeal to parents and grandparents who will share their experience with their children and grandchildren. For parents and grandparents it will be exciting and nostalgic, and for kids it will be exciting and new. And it would spawn sequels and animation and games and toys. And I was turned down by every studio in Hollywood. Every - Single - Studio.

The most common reason was “Oh come on Michael, no one has made a movie based on an old television series.” And I’d tell them that it wasn’t an old television series [laughs] - there’s a property underlying the whole thing! It was so hard to get through to that generation of studio execs. It was virtually impossible!

My two favorite rejections came from Columbia and my alma mater United Artists. At Columbia, the head of production said to me - shaking his head after I pitched my heart out - “Come on, Batman will never be a success as a film because our movie ANNIE didn’t do well.” I looked at this guy dumbfounded. And I asked him what did the little red-headed girl who sang “Tomorrow” have to do with Batman!? “And he said, “Michael, they are both out of the funny pages.”

JETT: Unbelievable!

MU: [Laughs] Now that was topped only by UA, where [laughs] an exec said to me that a film with Batman and Robin would never work as a film because ROBIN AND MARIANE wasn’t successful. Now that was about an aging Robin Hood and Maid Marian with Sean Connery! I just picked up all my materials, didn’t say a word and walked out of the room.

JETT: [Laughs] How close did we come to having the BATMAN movie be a big screen version of the 60s TV show? You know, there were rumors for years that Bill Murray was up for the role of Batman at one time. I know my fear back then was that was what we’d end up getting, you know. That’s what I thought was happening when I first heard that Michael Keaton had been cast back in ‘88!

MU: Bill, this was the stuff - and I use the word carefully - that I fought against all the time. All the time. When we first set it [BATMAN], we set it up at Casablanca Records. Which had just started a film division with Peter Guber and his partner Neal Bogart. And Ben [Melniker] had known Peter years back. In fact, Ben had interviewed Peter wanted to hire him to work [as an exec] at MGM when Ben was heading up that studio. Anyway, Ben said Peter Guber is a lot younger than these other execs we’ve been dealing with. He’s more hip and he may get this new approach we were looking to do [with Batman]. Peter says “Yeah, I get this - a dark, serious Batman. Come on out.” So we were out there in a couple of days, did the whole pitch in person, and he said “OK, let’s do this.”

Then the battles began to preserve what we had been trying to do - which was to create a comic book movie unlike any other comic book movie that had ever been done. Focusing on a character unlike any character in other comic book movies. This battle lasted for nearly twenty years - not just with BATMAN, but other things [comic book movies] as well.

As we all know, BATMAN finally ended up back at Warner Bros. Sam Hamm was brought in once Tim Burton was on board as director to work on the screenplay that would eventually become BATMAN.

The biggest controversy was the casting of The Batman himself. If you were around back then, you'll remember the absolutely HUGE backlash that Warner Bros. and the filmmakers received when it was announced that Michael Keaton would play Batman.

JETT: Michael Keaton as Batman.

MU: I get a call from one of our execs from [Warner Bros.] one day. And this is right after we hired Jack Nicholson. In fact, if you go back to my seventeen page original memo I wrote in the beginning of 1980, that we were using as our “creative blueprint,” I had put in there that Jack Nicholson was the only one who could possibly play The Joker. So when Nicholson was hired it was one of the greatest days of my life - I was walking on air.

So anyway, I get this call from this studio exec and he says, “So Michael, what do think about Tim’s [Burton] idea that Michael Keaton play Batman. And I laughed - “Mr. Mom as Batman, very funny” I said. Seriously, it took him over twenty minutes before he could convince me he that he wasn’t just playing some kind of joke on me. And probably like you, I went haywire. [Laughs] I went crazy. I spent all these years striving to do a dark and serious BATMAN, we got Nicholson - how could this be?

Well, ultimately the genius of Tim Burton reared its head. And he explained to me why. He said “Michael, you wanted to see a serious BATMAN right? Do you agree with me with the signing of Jack Nicholson, we can’t go with an unknown like they did in SUPERMAN - Nicholson would wipe the screen with the guy.” And I agreed. Tim said, “I don’t know how to take any of today’s ‘serious actor’ and put them in the Bat-suit to fight crime without getting unintentional laughs” Back then, we would be talking about Dennis Quaid. Kevin Costner. Harrison Ford.

So Tim says, “But what I do know, having worked with Michael Keaton on BEETLEJUICE, that with Keaton on board, we can create a portrait of Bruce Wayne that is do driven, so obsessed, so consumed to the point of being psychotic, I KNOW I can get an audience to suspend its belief. They’ll believe that he can dress up as a bat and go out and fight crime.”

Well, the first thing he had to do was prove to me that he [Keaton] was a serious actor. They then set up a screening for Ben [Melniker] and myself of CLEAN AND SOBER. I came out of it saying, “OK, absolutely, I take it all back. The guy’s a great serious actor. BUT [laughs], the guy’s about my height [laughs]. He doesn’t look like Bruce Wayne. He doesn’t have a square jaw. And again the genius of Tim Burton. He says, “Michael, a square jaw does not a Batman make.” And you know what, that’s hard for a comic book geek like me to swallow, but it was so utterly, utterly, true.

Tim also said in order to make this work, Gotham City has to be the third most important character in the movie. From the opening frame of the film, the audience must totally believe in Gotham City. If they believe in Gotham City, they’ll believe that there could be a Batman fighting The Joker. And it was the genius of Anton Furst who brought Gotham alive.

[Historically], BATMAN is the Bob Kane/Bill Finger of Batman of 1939. BATMAN BEGINS is the best Batman movie. BATMAN was revolutionary. When you discuss the BATMAN films, you must always talk about that first film in context to the time it came out, I mean it was totally revolutionary. And it impacted - and will impact - comic book and genre movies for decades.

Michael Keaton's portrayal of THE Batman was excellent and Anton Furst's Gotham City was indeed a place the audience believed in. Just as Mr. Uslan had dreamed, BATMAN turned out to be a comic book film unlike any before it. The hype that surrounded BATMAN‘s release in the summer of 1989 was unique, and has yet to this day been duplicated, in this author's opinion.

Michael Uslan had achieved his goal of getting a dark and serious BATMAN film made. Not only did it usher in the summer “blockbuster” and "event movie," but it changed what a “comic book movie” was forever. Without BATMAN, there would not have been a SPIDER-MAN, X-MEN, HELLBOY, SIN CITY, or even a BATMAN BEGINS.

The success of BATMAN did spawn sequels - 3 in fact - just as Mr. Uslan predicted when he originally pitched the project to Hollywood studios.

NEXT: Mr. Uslan talks about the fall, and the subsequent rebirth of the BATMAN franchise thanks to BATMAN BEGINS.

PART THREE

DATE: November 13, 2005

Author: "Jett"

Michael Uslan

In June of 1989, Michael Uslan’s goal of producing a dark and serious Batman film was realized in the form of the Tim Burton directed BATMAN. As we know, the success spawned three direct - sort of - Bat-sequels over the next eight years: BATMAN RETURNS (1992), BATMAN FOREVER (1995), and the infamous BATMAN AND ROBIN (1997).

When the dust settled after BATMAN AND ROBIN‘s premiere in 1997, it looked to be the end of the BATMAN movie franchise.

Years passed. BATMAN TRIUMPHANT, BATMAN BEYOND, YEAR ONE, and other potential Bat-films came and went.

Then came along a man named Christopher Nolan...

BATMAN RETURNS

JETT SAYS: How did you feel about BATMAN RETURNS? Personally, I didn’t like it - it just wasn’t “Batman” to me. Among fans, it is quite divisive - they either love it or hate it.

MU: The second BATMAN film was - in my estimation - the Batman of the 1990s. Almost souless, very dark, almost vampiric.

I LOVED the Catwoman material. Loved it. Great, just great.

I remember reading an earlier draft from the one that was shot, and then when the movie came out wondering, “Doesn’t anyone wonder WHY Christopher Walken is in this film? Who is this guy and what’s he doing here?” Well, in an earlier draft it is explained that he - Max Schreck - was The Penguin’s normal brother. I was surprised that that wasn’t in there. There were some really interesting things in that movie. The best part for me was Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.

JETT SAYS: What about BATMAN FOREVER?

MU: BATMAN FOREVER, no question about it was the Dick Sprang, Batman and Robin, Bill Finger-written stories of the 40s and 50s. Batman and Robin jumping across the keys of giant typewriters and having this amazing, grotesque rouges gallery of supervillains.

JETT: How disappointed were you in BATMAN AND ROBIN?

MU: [Laughs, HARD]. Let me think. [long pause] That character has been interpreted so utterly different over the years. In tone. In terms of story content. In terms of the look and the style [of Batman] - totally different.

The 1960s Batman - “Pow, Zap, and Wham.” Fortunately or unfortunately - fortunately for those who only know the 60s TV show - and unfortunately for you and me - BATMAN AND ROBIN was the Batman of the mid-60s.

Let me speak generally here...sometimes you get to the point - in my estimation - you’re not making movies, you’re making two hour infomercials for toys. And that’s sad. Because, if a filmmaker is allowed to just go out and make a great film, I believe you will sell toys anyway.

One of the lessons that’s finally been learned by Hollywood - and I think it’s been learned. I won’t swear to it, but I hope it has - There’s no point in doing a “comic book movie,” if you are going to ignore decades of history and mythology and create something out of a whole new cloth just for the sake of creating something out of whole new cloth. I think if you continue to treat the characters with respect and integrity - and I’m not saying you can’t change things. Like Tim [Burton] said, it is a different medium. I would say the same thing applied to CONSTANTINE - English accent and blonde hair - as would to Batman’s square jaw and Michael Keaton. But what you don’t do is ignore the history and mythology. Because if you do, you are insulting every fan that ever existed.

JETT: Did the fans play any role in influencing what ultimately became BATMAN BEGINS?

MU: Absolutely. Because ultimately, they have a vote at the box office. And that’s critically important. Ben [Melniker] said to me at the time of BATMAN AND ROBIN- when I was ready to jump off, uh [laughs], never mind. He said, “Good news and bad news. It [the BATMAN movie franchise] got bit on the butt. But maybe because of that, you’ll get the BATMAN movie you’ve been clamoring for all these years. It got bit on the butt, but not hard enough to kill it.”

JETT: That’s funny because I’ve said many times on BOF that [laughs] BATMAN AND ROBIN is BATMAN BEGINS‘ “Daddy.”

MU: [Summerizing the "Burton/Schumacher" films] For as long as I can remember, people come up to me and say, “Who is going to play Batman in the next movie?” And my answer to them it that they are asking me the wrong question, because [who is going to play Batman] is irrelevant. And they’ll say, “What do you mean?” The real question is “Who is going to play Bruce Wayne?”

If you go over all the movies, the Batman stuff is similar. It’s that “Voice.” [ laughs] It’s his fighting moves - which are largely the same. There have now been four actors whose interpretations of Bruce Wayne couldn’t have been more different. And that’s why who is going to play Bruce Wayne is the critical question.

In BATMAN, we had a driven, intense - almost psychotic Bruce Wayne [in Michael Keaton]. When Val Kilmer came along, we had an aloof, mysterious, dark Bruce Wayne. I can only compare it to when I saw Frank Langella on Broadway as Dracula in the 70s. His performance as Dracula romanticized the role, and Val’s performance reminded me a bit of that. [Kilmer was] a completely different Bruce Wayne [than Keaton]. George Clooney was warm and fuzzy - the boy next door.

And now you have Christian Bale. Christian on every account, is the ultimate interpretation of Bruce Wayne. I don’t care what generation you grew up in. I don’t care if you are talking about Bruce Wayne or Batman. I don’t care if you are talking about the young emerging Bruce or - as we move along with these next movies - the evolution into an urban legend. This guy [Christian Bale] has everything.

And under the direction of Chris Nolan, I just don’t believe it can get any better.

One of the evidences of the genius of Chris Nolan is the presentation of “super villains” in an understated way, instead of over the top. So what does that mean? It means that what he accomplished is - a guy like The Scarecrow. He is threatening. I mean REALLY threatening. And plausible. Not only that, but by making the villains understated, for the first time since the first movie - maybe for the first time ever - Chris made Batman the most interesting character in the movie. And that’s breakthrough. That’s critical, and that’s breakthrough.

BATMAN BEGINS is the best Batman movie. BATMAN and BATMAN BEGINS are the two movies I consider the bookends of my career. It's [BATMAN BEGINS] actually the movie I wanted to make after the first one [BATMAN]. After I saw it [BATMAN BEGINS] for the first time I turned to my wife and said I could retire now! [laughs] It was certaily worth the wait. Between BATMAN in 1989 and BATMAN BEGINS, I've reached all my career goals.

JETT: Were you shocked - if I can use that term - that the general movie audience seemed to be surprised at just how good BATMAN BEGINS actually was?

MU: You got to put credit where credit is due. And the credit goes on the arms, shoulders, and legs of Chris Nolan. This guy is a genius.

I think we had two geniuses on the first film - Tim Burton and [the late] Anton Furst, my dear, dear friend who is no longer with us. But what Chris has accomplished is that he has elevated the comic book movie to a new, higher, platform. It is at the highest place it has ever been.

Why? Well,what has shocked people [about BATMAN BEGINS] and what brought people to the theater that would never go to see a “comic book movie,” is that it is simply a great film. It’s got a wonderful character arc. It is a character driven, plot intensive movie. It’s a great story. It has important themes. It is plausible. It’s resonates. Not just the directing, but the acting performances are superb. A cast like this has never been assembled for a comic book film before. In so many ways this raises the bar.

JETT: What did you think about the marketing for BEGINS? I thought it was fantastic - to go with the low-key approach and let the movie sell itself.

MU: Sure. Yeah I agree totally. I think it was marketed extremely well. This is a movie that a lot of people are going to see for the first time on DVD - and they already are. Have you seen the sales figures? They are astronomical. And that’s important because one thing that BATMAN BEGINS had to do was win back an audience who had been disappointed years ago by that “last thing.” I think there were some people who said, “I’m not going.” And then word of mouth, the incredible reviews, [brought people into theaters]. And now on DVD. All of this plus [a TV run] in the future. You had the theatrical run, the IMAX run - where it set IMAX records - all of this combined, by the time of the next one, the audience is just going to grow huge. Even bigger [than BATMAN BEGINS].

JETT: I agree totally. I've been beating that drum on BOF - that the sequel is going to be HUGE!

Besides the obvious people like Nolan and Goyer, who should be given credit for BEGINS?

MU: [Credit should go] not to just Chris [Nolan] and David Goyer, but also to the most recent management at Warner Bros. - Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov. Paul Levitz at DC Comics - nobody knows how hard he’s worked behind the scenes in the best interests of Batman and other DC properties. This has not been a one person effort.

I think it is just tremendous that Warners “got it.” And Paul [Levitiz] pushed it. And that this came to pass. And finally we - and I say “we” meaning I’m speaking with my comic book fan hat on now - got the [Batman] movie we all wanted. I as producer got the movie I wanted since after the first film [BATMAN (1989)]. And everybody is happy with the results artistically and financially. And that’s a great, great thing.

JETT: Can BATMAN be like the Bond series in terms of longevity from now on? I mean, I see a lot of similarities in Bond and Batman in that regard - I think that the BATMAN series is one that can last as long as Bond has.

MU: Well there is one big difference. Bond never had the incredible depth of villains - those great colorful villains. And that will sustain. Just look at the great stories, the great characters that have came out over the years. And if you look at just the “A-List” of Batman villains, and even the “B+” list - and even what may come in the future - this will sustain the BATMAN series for years and years to come.

"Take this guy...Has a taste for the theatrical like you. Leaves a calling card."

Now with this reboot, we’ve seen Ra’s Al Ghul. We’ve seen The Scarecrow. But we’ve yet to see The Joker or Two-Face or Man-Bat or Catwoman or The Penguin or - Bill, it just goes on and on and on. So yeah, it can. As long as these [BATMAN films] are made with great character driven, plot intensive stories. Because that’s what defines Batman. And it will be an on-going success. There are still 65-plus years of Batman stories to be told.

NEXT: Mr. Uslan talks about why "Kid Friendly" super hero films shouldn't be ignored, the future of comic book movies, and what he is currently working on for all of us to enjoy.

PART FOUR

DATE: November 15, 2005

Author: "Jett"

Michael Uslan

In this last installment of my interview with Michael Uslan, he talks about other his projects other than the Bat-films. He also tells us what he thinks about the upcoming SUPERMAN RETURNS and what the future holds for the DC Universe of characters - and comic book movies in general - on the big screen.

JETT: Are you excited for SUPERMAN RETURNS?

MU: Oh yeah! Yeah. I saw about ten minutes of it and it blew me away. I think they’ve nailed it. Bring Singer and company - all those guys - absolutely nailed it. I’m very, very excited about that.

Regarding having "family friendly" comic book films for kids:

I think it is very important to the whole concept of the comic book industry and comic book films to have some comic book movies made for kids. Not everything has to be a BATMAN BEGINS or a CONSTANTINE. There is no reason on earth you can’t do a SPY KIDS kind of movie that kids will love - eight year olds, twelve year olds - that their parents and grandparents can take them to see. It is important to do this. I felt that until recently, the comic book industry had turned their backs on kids. Like when you and I started to read comics, we were little. It was like they were turning their backs on a new generation of readers. And movies shouldn’t do that either.

JETT: I know you have a Captain Marvel movie in the works - what else?

MU: We’ve got some very exciting projects coming up like Captain Marvel - SHAZAM - at New Line. We’re doing Will Eisner’s THE SPIRIT. We’ve got several things going with other characters that we’ve yet to announce officially - a few rumors here and there - and we may have an official announcement early next year. But it is exciting. Here I am working with characters I loved as a kid, that I cared about - and do care about. And in some cases, I knew and was close to the creators. I was close to Otto Binder when I was a kid - who was the primary writer for Captain Marvel [for quite a while]. This is exciting stuff for me and very important to me. And I wake up every rainy Monday morning and I can’t wait to get to work. And that’s cool. I’ve taken my passion in life and my love for comic books and made it my life’s work.

JETT: How’s the future for “comic book” movies looking?

MU: I think that there has been a sea change in the way Hollywood perceives these things [comic book based movies] - I think that [not taking them seriously] has been eradicated. And I look forward to what I call the “Golden Age” of comic book movie-making.

[We should be] thankful in part to the special effects that can now be done. For example, up until a few years ago, you feared doing a GREEN LANTERN movie just because of the cheesiness element. But now you no longer have to fear that. If you now match the technical advances with the advances in the way people think about comic book films among the Hollywood establishment, you really, really, really have to be encouraged.

JETT: What’s in store for the DC Universe on the big screen?

MU: Well, as far the DC Universe, I think the corner has definitely been turned. And you look at the quality that has been done - BATMAN BEGINS, JUSTICE LEAGUE on animation - I mean there is nothing in animation right now like the DC stuff. Also, with what’s on the horizon like SUPERMAN RETURNS - I think that with Hollywood’s newfound respect for comic books and their creators, and Paul Levitz, Gregory Novak at DC COMICS working behind the scenes, so hard. I think we’re going to see some really, really, great stuff. Everyone is working hard and had the best interests of the characters at heart. We’ve got some great years ahead of us to look forward to in the future.

I know that I’m excited for it.

I'd like to take this time to extend a BIG thank you to Mr. Michael Uslan for taking the time to talk to me. Michael, it was great chatting with you and I hope to catch up with you again soon. I find your story - and especially the story of getting BATMAN ON FILM simply amazing! BOF'ers, Michael is one of us - he's a true Bat-fan at heart.

I'd also like to thank F.J. DeSanto from Mr. Uslan's office for help in setting up this interview.

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SOURCE: ARCHIVE