In light of George Miller‘s recent directorial success in the post-apocalyptic action film “Mad Max: Fury Road“, his previous superhero film “Justice League: Mortal” has hit the limelight once again.
The abandoned Justice League movie was originally set to begin its principal photography in November 2007 for a 2009 release date. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. decided to pull the plug on the film without citing any reasons.
Now, a documentary, which plans to shed light on what the film would have looked like, is reportedly in the works.
Titled “Miller’s Justice League Mortal”, the documentary is the brainchild of Australian filmmaker Ryan Unicomb and producers Aaron Cater and Steven Caldwell. Journalist Maria Lewis is also collaborating with them, taking on the role of scriptwriter.
Unicomb announced the production during an interview with Australian movie news portal Inside Film. He said:
We wanted to get the story out there to help us to gauge interest. I have always been fascinated with (the) project, which would be in the same vein as 2013’s “Jodorowsky’s Dune” and this year’s “The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?”, about a Superman movie that Tim Burton was to direct in the 1990s.
Several investors are interested in the feature-length documentary, but it might resort to crowdfunding if needed to.
Armie Hammer, DJ Cotrona, and Megan Gala was supposed to star in the $220-budgeted film as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman respectively. Additional cast include Adam Brody as The Flash, Common as Green Lantern, Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman, Teresa Palmer as Talia Al Ghul, Zoe Kasan as Iris Allen, Hugh Keays-Byrne as Martian Manhunter, and Jay Baruchel as Maxwell Lord.
Brandon Routh was not approached to reprise the role of Superman, nor was Christian Bale asked to don the Batman cape. This was because Warner Bros. proposed for “Justice League: Mortal” to be the start of a new DC Comics cinematic universe, which will then be branched out into connected sequels and spin-offs.
Jason Reitman was the first choice to direct, but Miller was chosen in September 2007 after Reitman turned the offer down. Barrie Osbourne was set to produce. At that time, no artwork or any other details of the superhero film were revealed.
No release date or timeline has been released by Unicomb or his production team, but it is hopeful that the documentary will include some behind-the-scenes footage and the official reason for the movie’s cancellation.
Some never-before-seen artwork and interviews with the cast and crew will also be featured in the documentary, which plans to recount an unbiased version “of the project’s development, pre-production and cancellation, as well as the impact on the Australian film industry”.
In other news, Warner Bros’ upcoming 2-part “Justice League” films will be released in cinemas on 17th November 2017 and 14th June 2019 respectively.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Justice League Wikia, Comicbook
