Thanks for reading the Thanksgiving 2018 edition of the BOF Mailbag!
Even though BOF 2.0 is almost a year old, this is the first TG mailbag I’ve done on the new site…which I think is kinda cool. Plus, we still have about a month and a half to celebrateBOF’s 20th Anniversary, right? Right!
This holiday mailbag is dropping a few days early because the Jett family spends every Thanksgiving in The DFW for the Dallas Cowboys‘ annual TG game. And this year is going to be a good one…Cowboys vs. the team that plays in Landover, Maryland pretty much sucks.
Thanks for your questions, enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving! – Jett
Jett is the new Creative Officer for DC. You have to pitch a live-action show, what would you pitch?
JETT SAYS: This one is easy: A Deadman TV series.
And I know exactly how I’d do it too.
Remember the old QUANTUM LEAP TV series? Don’t remember, well, you can educate yourself HERE, but essentially it was about a dude who traveled through time and would end up taking over someone’s body and would do something good.
I’d have Boston Brand — well, his superhero ghost of Brand — possessing someone in each episode in the name of justice and to right a wrong.
I’d also love to see a TV series based on THE SPECTRE. More on that later!
Bill, if Warner Bros. is really moving away from BATMAN v SUPERMAN and JUSTICE LEAGUE, and Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck are done as Superman and Batman [respectively], how is this going to affect SHAZAM!? Promo images and the first trailer included some [very overt] nods to those films. Thoughts? – Jayson (via email)
JETT SAYS: Great question and a topic (problem?) I’ve been thinking about for a while now.
First of all, let me be transparent here. I thought that it would be best — and rather clever — if DC Comics and all that entails was fictional in SHAZAM! just like it is in our world. But that’s neither here nor there.
If WB is moving on from the BvS/JL continuity as well as Cavill and Affleck, then I don’t think you can blatantly allude to these versions of Superman and Batman as existing as “real” in SHAZAM!
So, if that’s what was originally planned, how do you fix it?
I think the answer is that you simply make these DCU nods in SHAZAM! exist in the periphery and ambiguous.
In other words, maybe the newspaper clippings, magazine, covers, etc. are real, or maybe they are simply part of a collection of a fan of these fictional DC characters.
And it’s probably an easy film editing fix.
We’ll see soon enough as SHAZAM! will be here in about 5 months.
Any chance we get a Two Face appearance in THE BATMAN or does TDK‘s shadow loom too large?
JETT SAYS: If Batman/Bruce Wayne is younger in Matt Reeves’ film as we’ve heard, maybe Harvey Dent. I don’t see Reeves using Two Face so soon — relatively speaking, of course — after THE DARK KNIGHT.
How does Alfred prepare the turkey?
JETT SAYS: He Cajun-fries it!
What’re 3 Batman stories are you most thankful for? Who’s the Batman villain you’re most thankful for? And who’s the Batman ally you’re most thankful for? Cheers Bill!
JETT SAYS: The answers to your questions in order…
1) BATMAN BEGINS, “The Joker’s 5-Way Revenge” (from BATMAN #251 in 1973), and BATMAN: YEAR ONE.
2 The Joker.
3) Alfred.
Have you heard if Matt Reeves has turned in any updated drafts of the script yet or any rumblings behind the scenes in regards to new developments with THE BATMAN? Also, has there been any talk where Reeves film will actually lens?
JETT SAYS: I can neither confirm or deny that Reeves is hard at work polishing the script and has brought in another writer(s) to assist.
They MUST get THE BATMAN right and they know it. Thus, it won’t go in front of the camera until then.
Patience.
What’s the thing you heard from your sources and wanted to share the most, but didn’t to honor your policy against sharing leaks?
JETT SAYS: JUSTICE LEAGUE.
I knew everything about it — EVERYTHING. I also knew it was going to be a mess as a result. I tried to subtly get the word out so folks wouldn’t be so disappointed, but I did not resort to leaking to get my point across. Yeah, JUSTICE LEAGUE for sure.
Now that Titans has been out a few weeks what do you think of it and would Robin work in a Bat-Film because of it?#BatmanOnFilmMailbag🦇🙏👍👏👏👏🔥poochie2
— Jeff Hunter (@JeffHun34911855) November 18, 2018
JETT SAYS: Based on TITANS? I have no idea. I haven’t watched one second of it. It’s not my cup of tea my good sir.
What other kind of Bat-film would you like to see made under this “Worlds of DC” banner? And could this open the possibility of “Batman Unchained/Triumphant” somehow seeing the light of day?
JETT SAYS: I don’t think it’s actually called “Worlds of DC” — I don’t think there’s a title for this banner yet — but regardless, maybe a true adaptation of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS comes to mind first. I also think a BATMAN BEYOND film could work under this banner. Maybe even do a police/crime action/drama ala THE FRENCH CONNECTION set in Gotham and focused the GCPD and Jim Gordon (and with no Batman).
And no, I don’t think we’ll see something like BATMAN UNCHAINED or a Tim Burton BATMAN FOREVER.
Thoughts on GOTHAM’s Bane’s looks?
JETT SAYS: Terrible.
I really feel at the level television shows are being written and executed right now that a well written and FAITHFUL Batman series would be a great opportunity to actually adapt the best of the best Batman stories. After GOTHAM is done and if BATWOMAN on The CW finally gets made do you see Batman possibly getting a mature HBO or DC streaming series?
JETT SAYS: If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on no. Batman is WB’s crown jewel property and I believe they feel that “Batman” should be reserved for film. But who knows? Maybe one day.
What’s the one Batman story you’ve always wanted to see adapted on screen? What villain(s)? #BatmanOnFilmMailbag
— Nick Zednik (@PapaZ_95) November 18, 2018
JETT SAYS: I’m not much on Batman comics and stories being adapted straight-up for film. I prefer the “inspired by” approach. With that said, I would be down for a live-action THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS film as one-off.
As far as villains, most of the major Batman villains have made it to the big screen — some more than once. I guess maybe a new take on The Penguin. I also would like to see Hugo Strange in a Batman film…and he’s never gotten the “on film” treatment.
With this “Worlds of DC” movie franchise where the movies aren’t connected to BvS and JL, do you think that they would do a FLASHPOINT-esque/Earth-2 Batman movie with Thomas Wayne as Batman?
JETT SAYS: I don’t know if it’ll happen, but I’d support it.
Who is on Bruce Wayne’s guest list for Thanksgiving and who’s on Batman’s guest list for Thanksgiving? Or are they the same list?
JETT SAYS: Same guest list and only one is on it: Ace the Bat-Hound. It’s eaten in The Batcave at dawn after a night of Gotham City crimefighting.
Will we ever see a BATMAN BEYOND live-action action movie happen in the future?
JETT SAYS: I can’t definitively that it will or won’t happen. As I said in a previous answer, it’s something that could work as a one-off movie like this JOKER with Joaquin Phoenix.
I believe [Matt Reeves’ THE BATMAN] will be made, but what are your feelings on Nightwing and Batgirl [movies]?
JETT SAYS: Sir, I’m not holding my breath on either of those projects ever coming to fruition.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! – Bill “Jett” Ramey
