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