J. Michael Straczynski on his Hollywood projects

J. Michael Straczynski, one of the most controversial scribes on any Spidey title in the character's long long history, is moving back to Hollywood! Seems like someone's tapped him to write a script for the Silver Surfer live action movie. Goodness me!

Could it be possible that he might ALSO write a script for the new Spidey movie?


J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI ON HIS HOLLYWOOD PROJECTS
The Amazing Spider-Manwriter talks about the ‘Silver Surfer’ movie and reveals whether he’d like a shot at a Spidey movie script

By Rickey Purdin

Posted December 10, 2007 2:45 PM

The Silver Surfer’s about to get some web-slinging assistance—but it’s not from who you think.

Best known to comic book fans as the man scripting Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man since 2001, writer J. Michael Straczynski has been tapped to pen the big-screen solo adventure of the Silver Surfer. Thanks to his experience creating cosmic epics (he developed the TV fan fave “Babylon 5”) and writing the naked spaceman’s comic exploits (he wrote 2007’s Silver Surfer: Requiem miniseries), JMS makes a perfect match for ol’ Chrome Dome.

But a “Fantastic Four” spinoff isn’t the only foot JMS has in the Hollywood waters, as he is attached to at least three other projects with the likes of big stars Brad Pitt (“World War Z,” based on the bestselling Max Brooks novel about the aftermath of a zombie epidemic), Tom Hanks (“They Marched Into Sunlight,” about a day in 1967 in which two events galvanize the anti-Vietnam War movement on college campuses) and Clint Eastwood (“The Changeling,” based on a true story about a woman who is declared insane after insisting her returned child is not the right boy).

We cornered the super-busy scribe for details on what we can expect from him down the road as he heads further into the welcoming arms of Tinseltown.

WIZARD: What can you say about the Silver Surfer movie script you’re writing?

STRACZYNSKI: It picks up after “FF2” and includes the origin of the Surfer. That’s literally all I’m allowed to say about it.

Your thriller, “The Changeling,” is attached to producer Ron Howard, director Clint Eastwood and star Angelina Jolie. How does it feel to know that talent of that caliber is attached to one of your projects?

STRACZYNSKI: It’s humbling. Every day I feel as though I woke up in somebody else’s life. I’ve had five feature deals/assignments/scripts in a tad over a year, all big budget, all big names. Even I’m astonished.

Five scripts? How did all of this occur in such a small window of time?

STRACZYNSKI: It’s pretty astonishing, yeah. Most screenwriters get maybe one, sometimes two scripts in a year, sometimes one every couple of years. To do five is just unheard of, and there may be a sixth.

I think it has a lot to do with my background in TV, which teaches you to write fast, and write so it can be produced efficiently. I don’t take a year to turn in a script; it’s done fast and so far they’re going into production or looking for directors based on very few drafts. “The Changeling,” Clint’s shooting the first draft. “World War Z” will be greenlit once we have a director based on the second draft. “Silver Surfer” is also solid based on a second draft. This is a business where you go through five, 10, 15 drafts. I must be doing something either incredibly right or incredibly wrong.

You’ve been writing Amazing Spider-Man for over six years now. Have you been itching to take a whack at writing a Spidey flick?

STRACZYNSKI: I’d love a shot at it.

If you had to guess, which would we see first: A movie based on your comics Rising Stars or Midnight Nation?

STRACZYNSKI: Since “Rising Stars” has been pretty well ransacked by “Heroes,” I’d suggest probably “Midnight Nation,” but we’ll

LMS: Silver Surfer Vs Dr Manhattan

It's kind of hard to top off the previous two LMS features I wrote, since they were all basically free-for-all slugfights and were so much fun to write!

Decided my next LMS, written on 25 September 2007, was going to be between two stoic, but unbelievably powerful characters:


Let's pit two of the most powerful members in their respective universes against each other! On the one side, Norrin Radd. On the other, Dr Jon Osterman!


Tale of the Tape

Home:
Silver Surfer - space, originally Zenn-La
Dr Manhattan - New York City

Nature:
Silver Surfer - compassionate, loves all living things
Dr Manhattan - aloof, thinks he's above all living things

Complexion:
Silver Surfer - chrome silver, shiny, smooth and cold to the touch
Dr Manhattan - sky blue, blends in when standing in front of a blue screen

Most often mistaken for:
Silver Surfer - T-1000 from Terminator 2
Dr Manhattan - a balder, nuder version of Blue Devil

Most distasteful feature:
Silver Surfer - the surfboard. What is this, the 90s?
Dr Manhattan - walking around nude 80 per cent of the time

THE PLAYERS:
In order to save his home planet from the planet-eater Galactus, Norrin Radd pledges to serve as Galactus' herald, surfing the spaceways as the power-cosmic imbued Silver Surfer!

After an accident in a nuclear physics experiment, Dr Jon Osterman finds himself reborn with the ability to control matter at a molecular level, fighting supercrime as the all-powerful hero, Dr Manhattan!

THE BATTLE:
The Surfer's search for a planet that can sustain the great Galactus' hunger leads him to a familiar planet; a city which has streets caked in dried blood; grime and dirt on every passing corner; a world harbouring on nuclear holocaust: Earth! Deciding that this planet's beings are about to destroy themselves anyway, Surfer fires a beacon into space, signalling to his master that his search for a new food source is over!

From halfway across the world at the peak of Mt Kilimanjaro where Dr Manhattan is meditating, he feels the strange sensation of a power unfamiliar to him. Dr Manhattan opens his eyes in time to see the light beacon careening through the sky. Within an instant, Dr Manhattan traces the beacon to the origin and teleports himself to New York City. The Silver Surfer hovers above the Empire State Building when all of a sudden, he feels the atoms in the air shifting behind him and where there once was nothing, now stands a peculiar blue man.

The surfer instantly recognises a kindred soul: someone who cannot relate to the world he lives in; someone who's great power supercedes the other inhabitants on the planet; someone who's as nude as he is. "My name is Norrin Radd and I sense in you great pain," Surfer says as he opens up his palm and stretches it towards Dr Manhattan.

"Leave," Dr Manhattan growls and with an outstretched arm, he snaps his finger, trying to force the Silver Surfer to dematerialise before him. "Eh?" Dr Manhattan gasps as nothing happens. "The power I feel in you...I can't atomise you?" The Surfer is puzzled, not certain of the strange tingling sensation he feels against his skin. "You are too powerful to be on this planet. Begone." Dr Manhattan growls again as he shoots hot lava into the Surfer's chest, knocking him off his board.

As the Surfer freefalls, he shakes his head sadly. "Surely I have misjudged this one. But if it's a fight he wants, then let the power cosmic surging through me be the end of his pitiful existence! To me, my board!" the Surfer muses as his surfboard shifts in midair, flies back and catches the Surfer on his feet.

The Surfer unleashes a salvo of cosmic blasts towards Dr Manhattan, all of which are dissipated in mid-flight with a simple wave of Dr Manhattan's hand. "Truly you are powerful. Surely we can try to attain some peaceful negotiation?" the Surfer says. Dr Manhattan's reply is to harden his fist into diamond and punch the Surfer in the face.

Dazed, the Surfer feels a trickle of wetness flow down his lips. He wipes his face with the back of his forearm, only to realise the Dr Manhattan has done what a billion other sentient beings across the universe has failed to do: make the Surfer bleed! Enraged, the Surfer starts zipping across the sky, unleashing bolt after bolt of cosmic energy towards Dr Manhattan. None of them reach its target.

Dr Manhattan waves his arm and all of a sudden, the Surfer gets caught in a prison of adamantium shaped as a ball! Dr Manhattan constricts the ball of adamantium as the Surfer lets out an anguished scream. The ball gets tinier and tinier...and then it self implodes with a blaze of cosmic energy lighting up the sky! "You were a strange one invading this cesspool of a world...but this is MY world and invaders will not be tolerated," Dr Manhattan says coldly. Suddenly, a roar of thunder erupts in the sky and Dr Manhattan's persona is buffetted by waves of cosmic force so powerful that it brings him to his knees.

"Where is my herald?" a booming voice erupts from the sky above. "I no longer sense his presence."

"INVADERS. WILL. NOT. BE. TOLERATED." Dr Manhattan deadpans as he unleashes the fury of his powers in a futile attempt to get rid of the world devourer. Hours later, the planet is left a lifeless empty shell as Galactus leaves in search of his next meal. "I really should have made that blue creature my new herald, but he was such an annoying insect...and he made for a nice appetiser."

Winner: Dr Manhattan. That is, before he chose to attack Galactus.