Zack Snyder & James Gunn – What’s REALLY Happening?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to the everyone. [00:00:04] Speaker B: That'Ll make it into a short. I have a feeling. [00:00:06] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, of course, of course. Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Nerd J Report. I'm your host, Pablo. Joining me, as always, is Mr. Brian Schultz. We got a lot to discuss, a lot of big things happening, people going crazy over pictures. We know what happened last time. We went crazy over picture the Rock and Henry Cavill over a sunset. We saw the disaster that was. And now y'all going crazy over this. We have our theories. If you didn't listen to our last conversation regarding Bond, I suggest you go back because we have stated certain things that would happen or would need to happen in order for the boss to start rolling again. I'm borrowing that for Andrew Silverberg. He used to say that all the time. And in a surprising turn or not surprising to some who already may know the situation, Craig is out and the first pick is another actor. But I find it sort of, it made me go, you know, what's that? So what was that song? Things that make you go. Yeah, it reminded me of that. I was like, okay, but we'll talk about it. I did not get a chance to finish Spider Man Friday. Neighborhood Spider Man Brian did. So he is going to give a give us a non spoiler review of how he felt about the show and I'm going to watch and then we'll talk about it next time and then we're gonna give you the tidbits at the end because we gotta finish it off right. We gotta, we gotta rock bottom it right? Get the finishing move off right. Zack Snyder appears in a James Gunn picture, meaning they're, they're, you know, pals hanging out and they took a picture together. They probably saw each other crossing, going to the bathroom, who knows? So they took a picture and everybody's going crazy. People don't know what to think. They're obviously the extremes, right? And possibly the coincidences like this is just, whatever this is, he's not coming back. But for those who believe in Zack Snyder and his abilities want him to come back, they believe this is a chance for him to get back in the game. Brian, what is, what, what went, went through your mind when you saw that? I have, I have my theory, but it may be close to you. What you're going to say what? [00:03:09] Speaker B: We have not talked about this. We have not talked about this beforehand. We deliberately saved this conversation for the show. So I had my first emotional knee jerk response. The people are reading into the background of the photo is clearly the DC offices where this meeting took place. Not that backgrounds can't be edited, but that's what people are climbing onto. James Gunn also with a tagline. You know, just had a conversation with my good friend Zack Snyder and they said consummate filmmaker, consummate storyteller. So you buttering them up there in the, in the tagline. And then rumblings that there will be a major DC announcement of some kind this week. [00:03:51] Speaker A: This week. [00:03:52] Speaker B: So everyone is all over the place with this. Right. So we can throw a couple of the strands out there that people are talking about, we can react to them. I don't know actually that any of them is right personally, but I would say one of the leading thoughts is they're going to announce Zack Snyder as the director of the Authority, which clearly an adult themed, sort of like Watchmen, sort of like Suicide Squad, but James Gunn already did that obviously, so that would be a. Maybe more his type of collection. [00:04:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:26] Speaker B: One is just tay. They're. They're going to announce some kind of future collaboration. I've seen one as far out as Zach will get to do his dream project, which is Dark Knight Returns, which he already kind of riffed on obviously in Batman vs Superman anyway. But I think that that's kind of. Those are kind of a couple of the main ones. I don't know that any of those is correct. And I, I. My initial reaction, Pablo, was I was just like, on the one hand, James Gunn knows exactly what he's doing. Why would you do this? And then the weekend I kept focusing on James Gunn knows exactly what he's doing. I'm not as mad about this because I think I know what he is doing. So I'm gonna pause for a second there, let you talk. [00:05:08] Speaker A: Okay. Hey, Zach, I really need this Superman movie to work. I need everybody to come together. Let's take a picture, man. Let's call a truce. Let's get these people to buy into what this Superman can be. Take a picture, man. [00:05:24] Speaker B: So that's a hundred percent it. Like when I, so I was like, you know what? Superman is a presidential campaign. That's what it is. You gotta win the people from all the corners, the quadrants. Right. In entertainment, you gotta win all the quadrants. And, and if you go back to one of our shows where we were talking about agendas with related Superman, what did I say? I said one of the camps that's most likely to root for this movie to fail is who? The Zack Snyder fan. [00:05:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:59] Speaker B: So James Gunn is kissing the babies right? Now he's shaking the hands. He's getting in the room and saying, what's it gonna take? Now there is going to be quid pro quo. If it is like a campaign, Zach's not just gonna say, I love this. Everyone get behind it. Right. So I'm just going to throw this out there. Zack Snyder, RFK Jr. I need that endorsement from the fringe element. And I don't know what. I don't know what Zack Snyder's equivalent of Health and Human Services is, but maybe it's the Dark Knight Returns. I'm just saying I think he will get something out of this. I do. I don't think it's an accident. I don't know that it's the most obvious things that people are saying. But I do think I 100% agree with you. This is a pro Superman publicity move by James Gunn, recognizing that he needs that piece of the fandom to buy in and back this project. That. I think that's what it is. [00:06:59] Speaker A: Yes. And does he get to do the authority? Possibly. But here and there's here. Here comes the negotiation. Okay, you want to do the Authority? I need to see a script. I need some, you know, have the total control that you usually tend to have. [00:07:18] Speaker B: You have the same rules that everyone else does. [00:07:21] Speaker A: Yes, but you know how Zach work. I'm doing is my thing. Nah, we can do. We can work together, which is the point. This is the point for us to work together to put out stories and movies that are. That the fans are gonna enjoy again. James Gunn was in the house where ever when everything was lovely. He knew how everything worked. He has a plan. But in order for that plan to work, we need to do it. What? Harrison Ford Together. Yes. You know what I'm saying? So there's gonna be that possibility that he is going to be involved maybe in. I'm not interested in seeing your Dark Knight. I really not. [00:08:12] Speaker B: I'm not either. [00:08:13] Speaker A: You already. What are you going to do differently that we haven't already seen? You spoiled it already. [00:08:19] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the problem. My other fear with that adaptation for him is that he'll lean. He'll. That story goes in a lot of directions. Right. People remember the fight, but there's a lot of elements. Right. Superman is in that story as sort of like a government henchman who then kind of tries to stop him and then gives up. Is it Barbara Gordon who gets raped by the Joker in that story? [00:08:42] Speaker A: Yes, it is. [00:08:43] Speaker B: Right. [00:08:44] Speaker A: His daughter, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. [00:08:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Barbara. Yeah. Barbara's. I'M just saying, like, it's. Yeah, I'm trying to remember. Yeah. So there's like that, like, I feel like Zach would really lean into that element of it. Like, you know what I mean? Like, he. He just. After watching what he did with Rebel Moon and, like, what he seemed to care about, I think he would look for those types of. Anyway, I think we're elements. I think we're ahead of things. I actually don't think it's the Authority, only because I think the Authority is too high up on the priority level for James Gunn to give that one away. I don't think that's the trade, but. [00:09:14] Speaker A: There has been any announcement of directors or anything. [00:09:17] Speaker B: But again, he said, like, they haven't. But they haven't. But they haven't fully written it yet either. Right. His whole thing with, like, Clayface and all this stuff is he waits till it's ready to go and then it's announced. So they just aren't as far along. So the one. I'll give you one smaller one. I'll give you one smaller one. That's possible. That would not be as big of a deal, but is something Zach himself has talked about and wanted for a long time, which is a theatrical release for his version of Justice League. That is something he teased a few months ago as. Like he was hopeful or like someone asked him about it. And that would not. [00:09:55] Speaker A: You'll see Green Lantern and all the things that he wants to show. [00:09:58] Speaker B: You would see it. You'll probably see it in black and white. You would see it, you know, in its full three and a half hour glory, just as he, you know, has it on hbo, Max. And that would be them saying, we'll put some marketing dollars behind this and we will put it out in the spring, and then we're going to do our thing. Like, that would be a smaller thing that he publicly has said he cares about. That never. That he never got. I. [00:10:23] Speaker A: Okay. [00:10:24] Speaker B: If I was James Gunn, that's what I would be trading with before I started handing him other projects. Now, I have no doubt Zach pitched him something in that meeting because that's what filmmakers do, right? Filmmakers. You know, you'd be stupid not to ask for what. What are you thinking? What are your ideas? But I just. I don't. It feels too on the nose for Zach to have pitched him the Authority. So I feel like it's more likely he pitched him something like, you know, Dark Knight Return or Return of the Dark Knight. [00:10:47] Speaker A: I mean, listen, there are elements of the Return of The Dark Knight that I would definitely want to see. And if Zach is the closest guy to make it happen, fine, because that scene where he's doing the surgery on the. That's dope. Return of the Dark Knight one is dope. [00:11:07] Speaker B: Yeah. You're talking about the animated, right? They did a good job. Returns with Peter Weller as. As Bruce Wayne is very good. Ye. Yeah, it's. [00:11:17] Speaker A: Yes, yes. So if he could bring that to life shot for shot, which is what he's done before and has worked out, hey, why not do it again? [00:11:27] Speaker B: The other. [00:11:28] Speaker A: I wouldn't mind that. [00:11:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So then the other thing that led me to was, would. Would Zach ever do something more animated? Because he did. I don't remember the name. He did a mythological animated something for Netflix pretty recently. I'm just saying. I wonder. And. And I wonder if in the wake of Creature Commandos, what they're actually talking about is something animated, something adult animated, which, again, would not be. It would not threaten as much the kind of the central nervous system of what James Gunn's trying to do, but it might give. Let Zach scratch his creative itch on something adult, you know, something bloody, something with nudity, something that he likes, that James Gunn kind of also can get with. Because Gunn definitely likes the sort of, you know, the edgier type stuff. You know, I. So I'm trying to think outside the box because I just feel like the. Something like the Authority feels too easy. [00:12:24] Speaker A: On the nose and too risky. Yes. Yeah, that's the word. That's the word. I was gonna say too risky. The template for Return of the the Dark Knight Returns, at least you have that to look at and be like, this dope. Let's rep. Let's do it live. [00:12:40] Speaker B: But, like, my thing, too, is, like, as you said, DC can't really afford to have big budget misfires. And the Authority is not going to be like a $30 million live action movie. Right. That's going to be a pretty decent budget, I would think. Zach's box office track record is not good. Like, it's not that good, Right. It's like, it's been a while, right? He had, you know, 300 was a legitimate hit. Watchmen had a good opening weekend, but the box office was kind of shaky. And then, like, man of Steel was fine, but again, very front end loaded. Batman versus Superman, you know, depends how you look at it. Right. Made money, but disappointing relative to expectation. Like, he is not automatic. [00:13:17] Speaker A: He's not a good track record. [00:13:19] Speaker B: And, like, he loves to go over budget. Like, I, you know, to me it's. That's what I'm saying. To me, it's like you have to contain him. So if you're gonna, if you're gonna do this, and honestly, if you're gonna reopen this wound, let's not underscore that aspect of it. I don't know how many people at Warner Brothers are left from what happened, but you think any of them is popping corks if he's announced as returning in any capacity? No. So I think to go down that route, you really have to be sure and you really have to have a well defined lane for him to navigate in. That's not going to blow up into something bigger. Because the other thing that's problematic if you give him something big is what if Superman is not that great now everyone is going to be like, this is going to be like, you know, wanting the coach fired and having the new coach in the building or the old coach in the building, like, that gets really awkward. [00:14:18] Speaker A: I'll say this and then we'll move on. If Superman doesn't work, every other project, except for those ones, the ones on tv, but every other project is meaningless. [00:14:33] Speaker B: Yeah, agree. [00:14:34] Speaker A: We thought even though some of these things are in production and stuff like that, but it's just gonna. These other movies, what will be excite the trailers enough, you guys executive saying this movie is gonna be great is not enough anymore because you gave us a good trailer. Even though some. These trailers, people going crazy over little things here and there, right this. There is still that concern of this movie not smacking like it's supposed to smack us and have us going to the theater going crazy and, and telling everybody about it and go see it. If it's not that, we are not going to be your foot soldiers to spread the word for anything else. [00:15:24] Speaker B: The other thing that, you know, keep in mind here, too, is we. There's all. There's other angles you need to consider. So another one that I thought of was we know that DC is licensing content to other places, right? That's why caped crusaders at Amazon, that's why you can see the Zack Snyder verse on different streamers. I would not rule out that there's something in the works to allow Zach to develop something at Netflix. I would not rule that out because he still is a Netflix filmmaker these days. And Netflix, obviously, from a distribution perspective, is very powerful. So I wouldn't totally rule out that what they got together on was Zach saying, hey, I got this idea. It's something independent. It's something else Worlds. Can we work out a deal where I can do it under the Netflix banner but branded with your characters and your IP.100 bullets. [00:16:17] Speaker A: You need to look it up. Look it up. 100 bullets. 100 bullets. I got put on by Brian Ganey, who's a comic book head. This dude was spending hundreds of dollars a week on comic books every week. I'm exaggerated, but not by much. Serious money every week on comic books. And he put me on to 100 bullets. And then when I picked it up, I couldn't stop reading. It was. It was that dope. And I think that has been something that has been mentioned but never really followed through on Bond again. If you watch our other episode where we talked about the struggle between Amazon and the Broccoli family regarding the direction of Bond, we had made some statements, one of which was, I think Brian said it's going to give him a few billion dollars and that'll be that. Brian, what are your thoughts? [00:17:20] Speaker B: So we got the announcement this week that Amazon has assumed full creative control of James Bond IP from the Broccoli family and. And Michael Wilson, who basically are giving or being given an A. A very nice retirement package. Like, they won't say how much, but when you read the release, you can kind of like read between the lines and be like, it's exactly what we said. It's like, you know, they paid. [00:17:47] Speaker A: $1 million. [00:17:50] Speaker B: It says they remain co owners of the property. So their name is still going to be on it, probably as executive producer or something. When you watch credits, because James Bond credits are still a big deal with the song, you'll see their names, but they will no longer have any say. This is like what happened to Lucas with Star wars, right? Same thing, like wrote him $4 billion check. And it's like, yeah, your name is on it. Lucasfilm and all that's on it. We honor you every time. But those storyboards you have for seven, eight and nine, they done. And we know how that worked out, but that's another story. So they said all the right things. So Michael Wilson said he will. He will now focus on art and charitable projects. I. E. He's got a lot of money. That's. That's code for it. You talking about art and give it to charity. That means you have a lot of money at your disposal. [00:18:46] Speaker A: I can't possibly spend. I got to give it away. I got to give it away. [00:18:53] Speaker B: So here's the bottom line as we talked about. Amazon can do whatever they want with the character now, which Also means now we heard after the fact this came out that like all the casting rumors we heard before were kind of like pure speculation. It never got that far. Because this was interesting. They said that Broccoli was particularly stumped with what to do with the character in the franchise after Daniel Craig's death. Spoiler alert. In no Time to Die. So I think people have. So obviously you're going to get an announcement quickly. Like Amazon is like move. Probably move this to the number one, two and three positions on their priority list because this thing has been burning a hole in their pocket since they bought it. Right. I think people are not. Are thinking about this logically. I saw that the, the betting favorite immediately went to Henry Cavill and I, I see why. Because he's in the Amazon house. Right. Warhammer, Voltron. Like he's working for Amazon and they're working for him. So. And now the age thing might not be as big of a thing as it was before.40. [00:20:03] Speaker A: He's. She's still good. [00:20:04] Speaker B: But the point was the rumor was Broccoli wanted a younger Bond because Craig had aged out. Oh, right. So that she was kind of holding that up. So that's no longer applicable. Like Amazon's gonna do what they want. [00:20:15] Speaker A: Yes, yes. [00:20:16] Speaker B: So I actually think people are not totally being irrational when they immediately make Henry Cavill the favorite. Now, given the in house stuff, like. [00:20:22] Speaker A: I wouldn't mind seeing this, but I mean, there is no downside to this. [00:20:33] Speaker B: Oh, I don't know if I agree with that. You mean downside to Amazon taking over? [00:20:37] Speaker A: No, as Henry Cavill being. [00:20:40] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, he'd be fine. Yeah. [00:20:43] Speaker A: And I don't know if you saw a leaked audition that he did. Right. [00:20:48] Speaker B: That's from back when though, when he was like, yes, 20. [00:20:50] Speaker A: Yes, yeah, yes, I would be interested in seeing that. Why not? This is the opportunity to do it. Right. So I don't see the problem with that. [00:21:00] Speaker B: I mean, he's twice. Oh, yeah, yeah, right. Man from UNCLE and then in Argyle. Right. He's where he's spoofing it like he's, he's done it twice to show you like what he would look like basically in the part. Once as an American version, once as a, as a British version. [00:21:14] Speaker A: The man from UNCLE sold it for me. [00:21:16] Speaker B: Yeah, no, absolutely. It's still, it's still one of his best movies or his best performances. So yeah, no, I, again, I have no problem doing it. He can certainly play the part from age 40 to age 50. There's no rule about James Bond being 20 or being 30, like, this is not. This is not Reacher, where there's a very specific physical set for the character, so you can move it around. I have no problem if that's what they want to do. I think it definitely would be like, let's put it this way, if. If you're Henry Cavill and you are weighing reportedly a couple of Marvel character options and you're being talked about as maybe being a villain in a Star wars movie, and then you get offered to be James Bond. I don't. I mean, how fast do you hang up on Marvel and Disney and sign to be Bond, right? Like, assuming you can't do all of them. It's pretty busy, right? I mean, that's. I don't think that's a. An even question. [00:22:07] Speaker A: You get your name on a. On a. On a list that is very small, and is there forever immortality? Take it. It's yours. [00:22:19] Speaker B: There is clearly downside with the idea of this, though, because Bond is something that has also in some ways benefited from not being saturated in the culture. You know, you get a movie every five, six years, and really only the video game has. Has been the only other IP thing that's really taken off. I am a little worried that Amazon's just gonna. [00:22:37] Speaker A: Stuff. [00:22:38] Speaker B: Amazon's gonna just bury us in Bond content, and that could definitely go off the rails. [00:22:44] Speaker A: One thing, I don't know if you have any other points to make, but there's one thing that I thought about when it came to movies like with Daniel Craig, that they dived a little bit deeper into him. Yes, he was more so in the later films, but for me, I've only cared about the mission, his interactions with people and how he handles it. The gadgets has never been too. Too deep for that. You have your moments, but it's not the entirety of the film or the essence is about him getting the girl at the end. Him. You know what I'm saying? Him charming someone, his relationships to Felix, all this stuff, all that other stuff of whether he has a kid or not. I don't. [00:23:47] Speaker B: Yeah. So two points on this, which I think you're hitting on one, which I thought of as well, which is they have mined a fair amount of angles with regard to this character. Now, if you think about it, right, you think about, like, they. They've done the silly and the campy with Roger Moore and, to a lesser extent, later, Brosnan, right? They've done the gritty and the realistic and the personal, which was really Craig's mission, right? And. And I think Craig was the first one to really serialize the movies, right? Where, like, one really flowed into the next one, and it was a true continuation. And then, of course, you have Connery, which is sort of like the classic, but, you know, a lot of that doesn't age that great. Like, I remember I went back and watched, like, Dr. No, like, a couple years ago, and I was like, wow, you could not make that movie today. Like, you know, you couldn't. That's my shoes. Quarre. It's not working. [00:24:32] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, no, you couldn't. But when it's on, I watch just because of. Just because of him and. And his interactions and how he, you know, is, for me, is all about that. [00:24:44] Speaker B: So my theory, though, is. And this is. I know nothing, but if I was Amazon and let's say it is Cavill for a second or someone like that, I think it's the Connor. It's updating the Connery era is what I would try to do in terms of what type of Bond do you want to put on screen? And then you can kind of almost have fun with the things about him that are archaic and don't work anymore. But at the core, one of the things that really worked in the Connery movies was, other than his just overwhelming charisma, was they did have some pretty good villains, right? Whether it was Dr. No, Goldfinger, like, he had some of the better foils, and I think, like, focusing on that. Whereas I feel like with Craig, only Javier Bardem, in my opinion, really kind of got there. Like, there's potential. Like, Le Chifra is interesting. Christoph Waltz, Inspector is, like, interesting. But, like, I think only Bardem became transcendent. And so I. I think I could see like a, you know, a. A classic but updated Bond maybe being about time and kind of being refreshing for audiences. The second thing, though, I had to say was the. The environment for spycraft in TV and movies is as good as it's ever been. Like, there was a time where Bond and basically, like, maybe Mission Impossible TV series would have been the only thing you would have found in this genre. Now there's like, everything is. Everything's spy, right? It's like we just watch Black Doves, like you got slow horses. Like, you know, even stuff like Night Agent, like Day of the Jack, there's everything. Spy is generally good. And I'll watch it. There's so much of it. So being able to stand out now in that area is harder than it ever has been. [00:26:27] Speaker A: So that's where Henry Cavill becomes Atlas, I think, and carries this franchise to bring that Bond, to bring him that character and differentiate it from all the other characters and him and being true to who the Bond character is, like the Day of the Jackal, that opening sequence is Bond. I'm sorry, kind of, you know what I'm saying? It doesn't say Bond, but the music is just. It's just reminiscent of Bond. A lot of these things are reminiscent. And so what makes Bond or James Bond the film's great is him and what he has to do and how he interacts with everyone else. [00:27:09] Speaker B: I think it's a great point because I think if I was to draw an analogy, and it's not quite. It's not spy craft, it's more detective mystery. But it is similar to Reacher in my eyes in the sense of. I'm really enjoying season three again already. But what makes the show work is Reacher himself. This is why the Cruise movie didn't work. As good as the movie itself is, it is the character that carries the scenes. It's like another character who looked different, acted different and sounded different with the exact same lines would not be nearly as entertaining, but because it's rich in channeling his mix of sort of the Terminator and you know, an actual, like, I don't know, wisecracking, socially awkward, you know what, that unique blend powers a lot of these scenes in these episodes forward. And Bond is not any of those things. Bond is his own lane. But you're right, it's like a great Bond fills the screen and makes the same exact scene seem two times better because he's the one in it. And I think that's, you know. Yeah, so that's the hope, but I think we'll get. Listen, I think they're going to fast track this. I would not be shocked if you see a new director, a big name director and your star announced by Labor Day. I wouldn't be shocked. [00:28:28] Speaker A: Marvel tv seems like an executive order was issued a lot of those. Right? [00:28:39] Speaker B: A lot of those these days. And it does seem like it was a Doge style, efficiency type of order, no less. Yeah, go ahead. [00:28:46] Speaker A: Yes, Right. So we got a few announcements of TV series that were sort of rumored, not necessarily confirmed. I don't know if some of them were, Brian, but they have been said to have ended any production or talks of continuing on, effectively canceling and not moving forward with certain titles. [00:29:17] Speaker B: So the three that were official because this came from like Deadline, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, all had this story. So I'll take that as official Terror Inc. I guess was like a horror based series, Strange Academy, which was going to see Wong leading some Proteges and Kamartage and then most notably and maybe most surprisingly Nova. After all, sort of the cat was rumors they actually had a showrunner like that one was sort of happening and then is not happening anymore officially in Marvel parlance, none of these have been canceled. They've all been paused. But you know, you can kind of read into it that like, don't expect any movement on this anytime soon. And this obviously you have to kind of, I think link this to the Armor wars story. Right. Of like that basically being killed recently, which at one point was a TV series as well, to kind of say, you know, the axe is starting to fall at Marvel. Or at the very least, Marvel's purse strings are being tightened by the parent. And I would say that's probably based on performance. That that would be my. When I look at the timing, I mean, you tell me if you think different, but when you look at the timing, I kind of look at it as like, we know Marvel's in transition more broadly and then with each passing project that disappoints, there's fallout from that. And I think that with Cap 4 being received as lukewarm as it has been. And don't buy the spin on the box. The box office spin on this is worse than, you know, political spin. It's not good. It's not good. Okay, like the box office was materially lower than an Ant man movie for a Captain America movie within two years. It dropped 70% in the second weekend. This movie's maybe going to get to 400 million global. Maybe that's terrible for a Captain America movie when the Last one made 1.1 billion. That's the unspun version of this. So when you have performance like that, there then is accountability. You would think somewhere inside the company to say, okay, where are we spending money that we need to maybe rethink? And TV is an obvious area. So they're pumping the brakes on a lot of TV projects. [00:31:38] Speaker A: I wouldn't be surprised if Nova is re announced as a movie instead. [00:31:44] Speaker B: I think you'll see a Nova project someday, but I think the viewers probably need Marvel to be healthier before they do it. [00:31:52] Speaker A: And that Strange Academy, nope. That Terror, Nope. That is where like, what the hell is this? [00:32:00] Speaker B: Well, so Strange Academy, the one follow up I heard on that, which actually made some sense to me, was it might get reinstated if Doctor Strange 3 is a big hit. Ding, ding, ding. It's a meritocracy. Like I'm not saying I'm excited for that series, but like the idea that you want the underlying character to actually demonstrate they can crush it at the box office before you announce the spin off what a novel concept. Like, come on, like that, this idea now. [00:32:29] Speaker A: I mean we sort of talked about at one point the idea of, you know, movies and tv. This strange Academy. Terror. What's the name of that other one? [00:32:41] Speaker B: Terror Inc. I don't even know who the main character. I gotta look that one up. I wasn't even familiar with who could not have been far along. [00:32:48] Speaker A: And I think it's more of a trend. You got Umbrella Academy, you got these other team based TV shows that worked out and were received well. And so they want to have their own. Right. Star wars had their own thing. They want to have. Marvel wants to have their own. And it's like, yeah, it isn't a trend. So their thinking is that rather than yo, let's do a Wolverine and yo, not so Wolverine anthology. Watch everybody go crazy. You got to do it with the right characters. You can't do it with these. Let's make a crypto move a show. I'm just putting it out there now so you. So you can hear how dumb it sounds. I don't care how good he was in the movie. I don't want to see a crypto show because I know that's what you guys are thinking. [00:33:36] Speaker B: I know on Animal Planet. I can feel it all the way down in my plums. Terror Inc. Is an actual comic book series and character. Terror is an eternal entity that absorbs the talents of others through dismembered limbs. It was written in the. Written first written in the late 80s. So that was what they were going to adapt as a horror series. Yeah, I can see why that really didn't get off. Off the board. No, you look, I think you, I think you've touched on it, which is we know there's a series of TV projects that are too far along for them to change. Kind of feels like Wonder man is the like the line. That's the dividing line. Like that they made that, they got to follow through with it. I think some of what's going to happen here is they are going to watch. They'll keep working on stuff, but I think they're going to watch very closely how Lanterns is received. That's my theory. [00:34:26] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [00:34:29] Speaker B: Because if that is mega, that will be the template for everybody. [00:34:35] Speaker A: Yes. I mean you already seen or had a taste of what the Penguin did. You want to see if this can. If this is actually a thing? Can we? And if, I mean, that's what you should aspire to. If one guy did it, why can't you want to be that guy or reach up to those levels? Right. You want to do something as good, but different. Lots and beetles. It's like Kibbles and Bits, but different. [00:35:03] Speaker B: And I think to keep it closer to home, I think they're really. I mean, we know they care about this a lot, but like, I think they really are going to be critically evaluating the response to Daredevil because Daredevil is a prominent enough character that already comes with a built in legacy of success that if they can, if that becomes buzzy, like, if that becomes the it show that people want to talk about for two months. To me, that's confirmatory of the level of character you need to be headlining a show for people to really get on board. And like, the one thing that came about, you know, some of the stuff that also surfaced in regards to Marvel TV that I was unsurprised at was they kind of dust apparently might be dusting off like A Hawkeye Season 2. Hawkeye's part of the original. Like, I'm not saying he's a. He's Iron man, but he is part of the original six. So I'm not surprised that the conversation shifted from Terror Inc. To, hey, what if we had Renner and Steinfeld come back and do another season of a character everyone knows? See, like to me, that's moving closer in that lantern's direction of like, we gotta put them. We gotta put the recognizable names out there. [00:36:20] Speaker A: Yeah. If Jeremy renders up to it, cool. But they missed out on a lot of opportunities with Hawkeye to make it one of those great shows. They were. There were moments of it, but they just ruined it with the Hawaiian shirt, dude. [00:36:37] Speaker B: But I think Daredevil is a key test, right? Like, if they. If Daredevil's not good and it's not really widely watched, I think you'll see another round of kind of what to do with Marvel tv. [00:36:48] Speaker A: At that point, you think of the people that are actually creating the writers and the people that are in the room. Dude, that's what you got to do. Find some fresh heads in there. Get some actual comic book people in there like DC is doing. Not. Not dudes that are just great writers, but they have to be great writers and know the material. [00:37:10] Speaker B: Yeah. DC is also leaning on veterans of shows, right? I mean, like David Lindelof is not a perfect showrunner, but he's a very experienced one. So, like, Marvel is clearly trying to move in that direction. That's why they went away from their template and kind of were like, yeah, we want to find actual showrunners. Right. That's why, for better or for worse, Vision Quest got rehabilitated. Was they brought in, was it Terry Matalis, who had done Star Trek series and had done the Picard series? He took over that show and kind of resuscitated it. So, I mean, Marvel's looking for more people like that, but I think at the end of the day, like, they're only going to be able to go so far unless they put the characters we care about. So there was one other show that was per. That kind of got mentioned in this because it was a. Another Academy show and there was some confusion. And this one, I was like, oh, now we're getting a little bit warmer to what you and I are talking about. So strange. Academy is the one that's been delayed or shuttered. X Academy apparently is still being worked on and that was supposedly meant to be. What was interesting about that was they said that the show was being designed with the idea that it would introduce several X Men characters who would then be fed into the movie. So now we're getting a little closer to what you and I. Now, we don't. I don't think that would have been Wolverine, obviously, if it says X Academy, but like, I know you don't want Jubilee, but maybe somebody in that class, Kitty Pry, like somebody there could have been in anchoring those shows as a name actor, actress, and then they would have been parlayed into participation in the film. [00:38:47] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, that's what I think is the best. Is it risky? Certainly. Because the show doesn't work, then you have a movie. Right. But here's where you go. This is where you. Like in Rocky 5, you go for it. You know, saying this is where you go for it. [00:39:11] Speaker B: That never happened. I don't know what you're talking about. [00:39:14] Speaker A: I know, I know, but. I know, but this is. But this is what you do. You actually go for it, man. To really take the X Men to another level. Avengers was done, but just in movie way. They built up to that moment. I don't think you can wait or afford to wait that long with the X Men. You have to build towards it. Right. Because if you make a movie and is whack, then you don't get to X Men. [00:39:45] Speaker B: Yeah, you just threw like Seven or eight characters in the garbage bin as opposed to one or two get a chance to react. [00:39:53] Speaker A: Yeah, Bill, you build to it. We're giving us amazing tv. [00:39:59] Speaker B: Yeah. I think Marvel also, like, if Marvel's intent on remembering its own history, they should learn from what the evolution of the characters that really work. Like, we just, you know, we're talking about Captain America recently, and it's like, you know, I think First Avenger actually ages really well as a period piece. But, you know, both Chris Evans and the character came a long way from that movie to how we left him in Endgame, where his, I think, consensus was like, this is an amazing rendition of Steve Rogers. Like, it took the Russos coming in and modernizing that and McFeely and Marcus writing Winter Soldier and totally changing the lens of how we saw Captain America from movie one to movie two. That's a big pivot, you know, to. So to your point, like, if they had thrown all the Avengers up on screen out of the gate tonally, they'd have basically had been at a time where they had, like, Iron Man 2, Cat 1 and Thor. Like, that's a long way from where we got to. With my point. Like, they learn from each of those films, and they didn't always get it right. Like, it's with Thor. Like, whatever you think of Ragnarok, it took him three movies to get to a point where people were really excited about the character. Right. Like, Iron man, as good as Downey is, I still think the elephant in the room is, like, it was kind of uneven. Right. Like, if you look at the three movies, they were all successful, but, like, I still think 1 is far and away the best one, even though 3 is the most successful. But, like, they changed a lot over the course of those three films. Playing around with Tony Stark. And so to your point, like, these characters. Yeah, you got to try something, but then see what reaction comes back and pivot a little bit if you need to. [00:41:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll picture a show and then we'll move on. You put Benedict Cumberbatch on TV because he's always fun to watch. [00:41:45] Speaker B: But you, veteran of TV acting, by the way, Sherlock. [00:41:48] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes. You put him in a Doctor Strange series dealing with Nightmare. Make that a horror show, then we got something going. [00:41:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm with you. [00:42:01] Speaker A: That makes more sense. [00:42:04] Speaker B: Speaking of Marvel tv, I haven't. [00:42:06] Speaker A: Again, I haven't gotten a chance to see the rest of the episodes, but Brian has finished it and he. So he's going to give us his non spoiler review of the show. [00:42:17] Speaker B: Oh, I mean, the non spoiler review is gonna be tricky for this one, but I'm gonna say, like, my daughter actually really liked it. It was a little more grown up for her than some of the other stuff she's seen, but she really liked some of the renditions of the characters. I generally liked it, too. However, my tagline for the show is that friendly neighborhood Spider man is what what if should have been. That's my tagline. [00:42:46] Speaker A: Okay. [00:42:47] Speaker B: I think one of the most, at least entertaining, you can argue success rate is not perfect. But one of the most entertaining aspects of this show to me, when I got to the end of it, was the degree to which they took the framework of the MCU that we know, literally including the moment in Civil War where Tom Holland is introduced and manipulated it to ask questions. What if questions. And chart a new path for Peter Parker based upon those questions. And I think, you know, I'm not spoiling this because we did talk about it. You got that real first. The real first clue of the essence of this show is that scene where they simulate him walking in the apartment where he should be meeting Tony Stark and he meets Norman Osborn. That is really what the heart and soul of the show turns out to be. Because there are multiple moments as you go forward where similar things happen. You encounter characters or scenes that echo other things, you know, from the movies. And there's a real diff. A change of who's there at that moment or what they're doing. And you're kind of like, I'm interested. I don't know if you can land these planes, but I'm interested in this weird circularity that you're creating of, like, I'm in the mcu, but I'm not a true alternate universe. [00:44:11] Speaker A: I'm interested in seeing how you landed. [00:44:14] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good intro. So, like. And I. And to their credit, they also got some. Some of the actual vocal talent to show up. So I'll spoil one without spoiling it. So Charlie Cox is in this series, and he's memorably in this series. His scenes in this series are quite good. And I first heard. I was like, that sounds a lot. And I looked and I was like, it is Charlie Cox voicing Matt Murdock. And it's just like. But it's a little twist on what we think of the relationship between Spider man and Daredevil ultimately becoming. You get a riff on that in this, and it's kind of cool. And like, there's a moment where another very notable prominent avenger shows up out of nowhere, kind of in almost a cameo fashion. You're kind of like, oh, like, that's not off limits either. That's interesting. And then they even do some things within the villains, which I thought was interesting, where they change. You know, they pit some of the villains against each other, and you're kind of, like, expecting them to be aligned, and then they're actually diametrically opposed. And you're kind of like, I. I like the layers you're creating here of we've got villain on villain storyline within this sort of Spider man, you know, this broader sort of Spider man growth that's going on. So is it a perfect show? No, it's not. There are things that. You know, I think it's ironic that Hudson tem said the show was not woke, because if you. I don't know. Maybe this is my observation, but if I. If I were to inter. If I were to accept their version of New York as reality, like, I get it that you want representation, but New York is not 1% white. There's no white people other than Peter Parker in May anywhere, anywhere in the city. And I'm kind of like, okay, all right, that's interesting. But. But like I said, by the time we get to the end of this and you kind of realize how they manipulate the creation of Spider man again, it's just. It is. It is to me, a what if. That's why the whole thing w up being like, why didn't you just do this with the show? Like, what if Spider man was mentored by his arch enemy? [00:46:26] Speaker A: Imagine you had 10 different shows like that running at the same time. [00:46:30] Speaker B: The characters we cared about. It's like, yes, that was. [00:46:33] Speaker A: Yes, that was the entirety of what ifs. That's what. That's the what if. I thought we were gonna get Godzilla and Godzilla, Hulk and Voltron. [00:46:42] Speaker B: I mean, because I was weirded out by actually a little bit in the beginning where they kind of referenced Uncle Ben's death, but they never really addressed it. And then I realized, no, you did address it. Norman Osborn is Uncle Ben. Like, Norman Osborn is Uncle Ben. And when you realize that as the show is going on, that makes the show more interesting because you're seeing Peter, like, learning from and leaning on this guy that you know is diabolical. And he's showing you by the end that he is diabolical, but he's doing it in a way that he's still able to sell to Peter. My intentions were good and I still got your back. And you just. And you're like, that's at least interesting to me. It's like, what if my friendly neighborhood Spider man was actually trained and mentored by Green Goblin right up into and including the most famous line which they manipulate and by manipulating it, they totally change its meaning. And it's really, really interesting. [00:47:36] Speaker A: So everything that you described about this show, like if you were talking about it being what if, like a what if series, that's what that, that's what you would hear. That's what you got when you read the comic. [00:47:54] Speaker B: Yeah. It also made me feel like we talked about what if needing to be a little more serialized. Kind of like the Justice League cartoon where it's like, as opposed to doing one off episodes, why don't you do like three episode arcs? And this made this show made me even more convicted that had you done that with the mainline characters, like had you taken what was a great episode with a Doctor Strange episode in season one, if you made that a three episode arc about Strange's descent into true madness, like, that would have been great. And because you just couldn't or wouldn't go to those places, I think you really missed out. So I think this show, again, I don't know if we're going to wind up looking at this show like X Men 97. I just give them some credit for opening up a door I didn't expect them to attempt and, and leading me towards something. I am willing and wanting to see what happens in a season two if we get it. [00:48:49] Speaker A: If I was in the presence of Kevin Feige, I would pitch him so many ideas, but be like real aggressive about it. So listen to me, this is what you're gonna do. You know why? Because like, yo, I'd be upset at what you've given us so far. Yo, you have these great ideas and possibilities sitting right there and you're just letting people run with it. People who have no business. I'm sorry, you probably may or may not be listening to this, but I'm sorry, you haven't done a good job. You know, you haven't. You may be proud of it and that's fine, but it hasn't been received well. Yeah, it just hasn't. So there's nothing you really can say. You can defend all you want about how you thought about it at the time, at the moment, but you were playing with characters that you really had no idea. You probably read a couple of pages and you decided to do your own thing and try to put your own mark on it. Instead, these guys have taken that, that, that, that role of like, this is what we need to do. [00:49:53] Speaker B: It is interesting to me that within Marvel Animation there is such a seeming discrepancy. Like, I guess maybe that's not totally unique. But I, given that Marvel on the movie side kind of got to this place where it felt like there was this formula and this machine of like, no matter who came into it, you know, there was this floor of quality and so forth. I think it's interesting we're having this conversation in a trailing 12 months where we got, you know, X Men 97 reaching the heights that it did. And yeah, obviously, you know, in Bodimayo you can insert comments about Bodimayo, but like, you give him the. Give him the credit for the show running aspect of it, at least for what they put on screen. And then you have this show which was. Looks visually, it's bold, it's different. It looks very much like a comic book. My kid was even remarking on that. Sort of like she was sort of like, you know, she's like, did they used to draw like classic characters that had black hair with like blue streaks? And I kind of was like, yeah, they wanted to give the hair sort of a dimension it. I showed her like Wonder. Original Wonder Woman, like original Superman. You kind of see the same idea. And so she was noticing like how visually different it was. So they do that. And then this show actually has a pretty interesting premise with Jeff Tramiel running it, which I think was very different than I expected the show to be. When they announced it, as I think was the college years, that was the first iteration of this. Peter was Spider man, the college years. And then we have what if? Which really fell flat so spectacularly at the end, you know, and they're all in the same house. They all look different. But if you didn't know better, you almost would be like they weren't made by the same studio. Like, it almost felt like they were made by three different studios. So I don't know, like, it is. I think it is about recognizing when they've got something good and like leaning into that a little bit. So we'll see. But I, yeah, so I give this one, I probably would say, like, you know, we talk about like the blue eyes and the X Men. They're in the four and a half, five star category. This one to me is like a three and a half, four. It's like, it's like a notch below that right now, but you're some. There's some upside. You're draft, you're drafting something with some upside here if you take this as a pick. So, yeah, I'd recommend it. [00:52:02] Speaker A: One last point with regards to. Because they know they probably have something here and, and this can't be the first time they've heard the comparisons of what what if should happen and, and possibly they can sort of restart this idea of what if and get back to his true essence of it. And it's telling stories like these. It doesn't have to be told with this similar animation. But if I were to. To make a comparison the, the Star wars visions, you have different people doing different things and telling stories with. With, you know what I'm saying, in that world, but differently. And I would say that that would be the approach of giving certain characters to, to certain animators and doing it differently, but telling a story similar to the way they did Spider man and answer that question, what if. And go with a three, eight, four episode sort of thing and do something dope. Again, what they did with Dr. Strange, to me that's by far like the best episode. [00:53:14] Speaker B: Yes, I agree. It's the most interesting episode, the most interesting concept. Yep. [00:53:19] Speaker A: And I wouldn't have minded. It would have ended just with that episode. And that's it. Because it was just perfect. It was perfect. So in a stunning turn of events. Well, we were, we were very excited for, for this movie. And it's not that it is done and it's going to stop. They're just looking for someone else to take over. Daniel Craig dropped out recently and we'll hear the reasons why, which I can sort of see. And I was like, okay. But then they announced that they were looking at Jeremy. Jeremy Allen White. Right? That's his name. Jeremy Allen White. From the bear. [00:53:59] Speaker B: Yeah, the bear. Yep. [00:54:01] Speaker A: And my, and my thing that made me go home was the age discrepancy, the look that they were going for. Are they just getting names and putting anybody in this? You know, because at this point you could have gotten the rock, right. If you're looking so that different in terms of appearance. But your thoughts, Brian, on this announcement and what do you think are. Who are they looking for in terms of look? Because this is one was, you know, much older and now we're looking at a guy that's much younger. [00:54:49] Speaker B: So I think what's also come out is Luca Guadagnino obviously pitched James Gunn on this. So he, he's firm in the direct writer, director's chair for the movie. Apparently Daniel Craig was never Signed to a contract. He had a sort of like a verbal agreement to basically do this with Guadagnino. They were already collaborating on a movie called Queer that came out for the awards season. The report is Craig was not happy that Queer did not receive better, like, kind of better reviews and that he was not nominated for anything because of it. So the report is that that's the reason he basically was like, I'm not going to work with Guadal again because I didn't get what I thought I was getting out of Queer. Make of that what you will. Sounds very Hollywood to me. Yeah. However, I thought it was interesting they said that the pick. The studio is still locked and loaded to shoot this movie this fall in England. Like, they're basically. Because they have the fully finished script, they've got the director, I guess, they've got the crew and they got their location. Right. So they're kind of like viewing the lead as a little more fungible than you might have expected for something like this, which is why you get the Jeremy Allen. White might be interested. And he's available now. He's not signed. He's not the only one supposedly they're looking at. I mean, if you look at. If you look at Rock in the comics, he looks a little old, he looks grizzled, he looks a little older. Right. He doesn't look superheroes. But I don't know that there's like a defined age for. I mean, probably can't have like a. Probably can't have like a military leader who's 21. That's probably a little young. But I think anything 30 plus, you can probably, you know, have. I mean, White. White looks older than he biologically is at points in the Bear because he's so strung out and so kind of disheveled. So I think it's pretty easy to have him play, you know, make it look like he's 40 something at least, if that's what you want. So I don't hate it. I think what I think is interesting is they're pivoting from someone I would have perceived as a star, but very much an actor and Daniel Craig to another person who I perceive as like sort of a rising star, but also like a very picky actor based upon the projects that he's done so far and asking him to do this. So they're retaining the seriousness of it. If nothing else, they're losing probably a little bit of brand. I don't think White's star power right now is where Daniel Craig's is, you know, post Bond. But. But I don't know, does it really change? Like if they do this and it is White versus Craig or even if it's someone else, does it change your view of or interest in what this project can be? It does. Not for me. Not that much. [00:57:44] Speaker A: All I care about is the Sergeant Rock thing. [00:57:47] Speaker B: I don't care about you just care that it's not Dwayne Johnson. That's all you care about. Yeah. [00:57:51] Speaker A: Yes, Yes. I want to hear the conversation of Sergeant Rock and it had nothing to do with this guy. You know what I'm saying? Even though I think we should talk about it. It was an announcement recently about that, about the Rock and his career choices. [00:58:07] Speaker B: We will talk about that at the end. That's all right. [00:58:09] Speaker A: Yes, yes. That's the tidbits part. [00:58:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:12] Speaker A: So, yeah, I mean, I'm still looking forward to seeing what this movie can be and what it will be about. Daniel Craig was certainly an addition and based on what I saw when I did some research on that character, fell in line with the look. So I was cool. I was cool. But now that is the, the reason, the fact that they looked at Jeremy Allen White sort of changed my view a little bit as sort of who are they looking for as terms of look? That's what, that's what makes me sort of shift. [00:58:47] Speaker B: This movie is kind of the anti blade though, if you think about it in the sense of clearly they have everything associated with this production lined up ready to go to the point where they feel like they can just shop and swap the lead. Right. It's the opposite of having Mahershad Ali sign and then have everything else fall apart around him over and over and over and over again. Right. So it's like we are going to get this movie. Like this movie is going to happen. But it's almost like someone is going to take this part. I think someone will take this part because again, Guadal is a very serious direct. Like this is not a joke. Like you don't. He's not a guy who makes silly stuff like. So he's. People will take his call for sure. And yeah, I think it'll be interesting to see what this does turn into the tidbits. [00:59:31] Speaker A: Lastly, the Rock finally makes a decision that'll be good for his career. [00:59:41] Speaker B: Did he make the decision you think his people did? I think he was left with no choice, but I think it may work out for him. Yeah, I, I told you this is the Rock's last stand. I'm Calling it the Rock's Last Stand. This is it. [00:59:58] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. [00:59:59] Speaker B: All right, so here's the news. A major pitch being shopped around Hollywood. Just listen to this lineup. Martin Scorsese, director of a crime film set against the backdrop of Hawaii. So not Hawaii Five Zero, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Blunt and Dwayne the Rock. [01:00:24] Speaker A: Johnson, still a cast. [01:00:27] Speaker B: I mean, that's a big name, big deal movie. [01:00:32] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:00:35] Speaker B: And that is most definitely a movie where Dwayne Johnson is not the centerpiece. From a brand and a promotional perspective, he's not Leo. And Martin Scorsese, in movie terms, clearly rank above him. Emily Blunt. He and Emily Blunt, maybe, like, you could argue that's. But they work together, and supposedly that's the end. If. If this works out, you can send your thank you cards to Emily Blunt because of them working together on Jungle Cruise. She apparently brokered this. But I think what really got it over the line was Rock Stick is just not working. It's just not. And so I think they got together in the room and. Seven bucks. And they're like, Dwayne, you're 55, or whatever he is. They're like, the box office is the. [01:01:34] Speaker A: Same as it was. [01:01:35] Speaker B: Something's gotta change. They basically were like, you gotta. You gotta take direction from somebody. You gotta do something different. Because look at this project. You think Leo's taking notes from Dwayne Johnson on set? No. You think Martin Scorsese is not going to direct the Rock? Of course he is. So the Rock has agreed to play ball in this project. And I just can't believe he would have done that of his own accord. I think this is a. Like, I got no other way to go. I have to be part of something. Not the soul. Be all, end all of a check. [01:02:14] Speaker A: That's what this is. [01:02:16] Speaker B: But if this doesn't work, I think it might be the end of him. It might be the end of him as a. As a kind of relevant movie star. But I'm not gonna lie. When I saw this, I was like, I will watch this yesterday, like, just with the people involved and the theme of it. This sounds amazing. [01:02:34] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It'll be interesting. Like, I would. I would love to be on set for something like that. Just to see Martin Scorsese's direction of the Rock and perhaps how. Because I think Martin Scorsese directs. I mean, he sees what he's doing in his brain, and. And he tries to get you there. And if you happen to surprise him with something different, then that's Great. But he definitely has a clear vision of what he wants. Like the Rock. He has to give himself to the process and not be the one to say, I think it works better. Like. [01:03:25] Speaker B: Quite honestly. [01:03:26] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [01:03:27] Speaker B: He can't just be the Rock because we have seen him. Now, obviously, like I said, he's worked with Blunt before. We've seen him work with other successful actors before, but usually those actors are coming into his arena and adopting the same. Like Chris Evans and Red One, J.K. simmons and Red One, to me, perfect examples. They are better actors, but they know I'm in the Rock's silly family Christmas movie. So I'm just gonna have a good time. I'm not gonna flex my acting muscles for this movie. You can see it on the screen. [01:04:10] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:04:13] Speaker B: That cannot happen in this movie. You think Leonardo DiCaprio is going to show up on set and be like, kick back and I mean, have you ever seen Leonardo DiCaprio mail in a performer? I'm not saying every movie he makes is great, but I've never seen that dude mail in a performance in 30 some odd years. That's why he's generally considered the A list of the A listers. And if you watch Emily Blunt and something like Edge of Tomorrow, she's not going to get acted off the screen by Leno, Leonardo DiCaprio or anyone else. Which means, to borrow, you know, one of Dwayne Johnson's famous things, he's gotta. He does. He doesn't have a choice. Because if he doesn't, what is every critic going to say about this movie? Movie's great. Leo's great. Emily Blunt is great. But you know, who brought it down? You know who ruined it? You know, this is a risk. You can't. You can't have that happen if you're Dwayne Johnson. So you have to deliver a real performance. [01:05:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:05:18] Speaker B: That's why I say it is his last day. Because you got everyone around you to help you maximize your game in this project. And if we walk out of this movie feeling like you were the weak link and the thing that held it back from being great, that is a real black eye for your prospects. [01:05:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:05:41] Speaker B: But I am excited he even took the plunge. I give him the credit as long as it. Even though it came 20 years too late, I give him the credit for signing up to do this. Whatever happened, whatever it took, I am interested to see what he comes up with and to see what this movie turns out to be. I really hope they, you know, go. [01:06:00] Speaker A: All out yes, yes, I'm definitely interested in this. And that has something that you haven't heard me say in like, I don't know, however long I've been doing this show. Excited for something that the Rock is in. [01:06:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I'm moderately excited for the Smash, I will say. [01:06:20] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah. I haven't seen it. There hasn't been a trailer for it. Right. [01:06:23] Speaker B: There's only been a photo. Just that photo of him in the. Yeah. But like him being. Him losing weight and being directed by many Safdie and sort of. I think it's a UF type of. Type of based on a true story type of film. [01:06:34] Speaker A: Yes. [01:06:34] Speaker B: I'm modestly excited. But if you say, yeah, that plus this, like, this is the. [01:06:39] Speaker A: That's. [01:06:39] Speaker B: That could be rehabilitating the Rock. This is it. [01:06:42] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. We've talked about quite a few things today. Zack Snyder made his appearance for this show. We had talked. We had stopped talking about him for quite some time. But yeah, that. That situation is, I think, cleverly being given to us in a show of truce and sort of, let's make this work. We need this to work. So let's take a picture and see what we can do together so that we can make Superman what it needs to be Bond. We'll see what they do now because now they have all the control again. We said it last time, something significant would have to be offered or given to the Brocker family in order for them to be like I. We're definitely not doing for them anything for the money now. There's no pursuit. Right. For funds. These are situations where perhaps Kevin and the crew sit down, sit down and reassess what is needed to get back on the path of success and pleasing the fans and doing all the things that we did some odd 10 years ago. Maybe it's crazy, but there seem to be rethinking these past announcements and rumors of this happening and that happening and really trying to focus on something that could be what sets off again, what we spoke about in other shows. A trend of spectacular TV leading to movie and what that movie can bring in. Based on what we've done here. That is interesting out. We don't know who step into the Sergeant Rock. But you know, this is obviously a serious movie. So we're definitely looking forward to seeing what they cook up or what he cooks up. Guadalupe check out. I mean, Brian gave you the. The review of Friendly Neighborhood Spider man and what it reminded him of. What what if should have been. Perhaps this could Be the beginning of re. Introducing us to what if and giving us compelling stories that speaks to that series of comic books and the Rock making a career. A career choice pretty much. Right. This is like his last go around before he takes his shoes off and leaves it on the mat. So this could be interesting. Or it could be the. You know, not the beginning of the end. The beginning of the end was happening already. We've seen the trajectory, and it. And it hasn't been good. This is, again, hunkering down and really assessing what needs to be done in order to be in the bright lights and. And in the good graces of the people. Right. Because right now. Yeah. You're not necessarily heading towards Hulk Hogan status. [01:10:19] Speaker B: No. [01:10:19] Speaker A: But. But you're not getting the. The. The applause or the reception that you once had. [01:10:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Nobody's. Nobody's asking him to run for president anymore. [01:10:31] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you keep on giving you. Us rock stuff, and it's like, okay, we're over this character. [01:10:40] Speaker B: There's my last note. My last rock note. Because we didn't talk about this as a. As a rumor, because it's been around for a while. But if he does this project, let's say Smashing Machine is. Is good. And let's say he does this project and people are like, it's a revelation. Right. Especially like, I never knew Dwayne Johnson could do that. I don't. I realize the timing may not line up here, but does it make you feel any different about him possibly being Apocalypse or being part of the mcu? [01:11:11] Speaker A: If he falls in love with the. Going through the process and getting to where he needs to go in order to be convincing as a character, if he falls back in love with that process of transforming, then I welcome it. The Rock isn't Not capable. He is capable because we've seen it before. He's just been this one dude over and over and over. And I'm just. Everybody. I'm not saying everybody, but most people, the majority of people believe that we're tired of it. And you need to do something to change that perspective or that view that we have of his talent. So if he can do that and he can transform, then Apocalypse, I thought he would have been dope as Gladiator, the dude with the Mohawk. [01:12:04] Speaker B: Yep. [01:12:06] Speaker A: But Apocalypse, if he can do that and not be the Rock. Yo, I'm good. But you can't be the Rock. I'm sorry. Be the Rock with the people outside and stuff like that. But when you get up on that screen, you're that guy, whatever that guy is, you're not. You, you have, you have the ability. [01:12:24] Speaker B: To transform people forget how varied Arnold was before he became Arnold. Right. So if you, if you just, if you were to watch in a row, you know, Conan the Barbarian, Terminator 1, you know, Commando, Predator, like Total Recall, you know, True Lies, like he's not the same guy. Like he's acting. Right. He's very different across those movies. Yes. He got to a place where we became almost a caricature of himself later in his career when he was the number one star in the world. But like, watch those movies and see him working like he is taking direction and becoming something else. They're not the same film. [01:13:10] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And that's what, and that was the key. He took direction to change. Because if you see, like when you start, when you started naming off those names Conan and stuff like that, his words, he had a lot more lines. You can give, you can give Arnold Schwarzenegger his lines on a sticky note. [01:13:32] Speaker B: For Terminator, but that's a physical performance. Right. It's his eyes, it's his face. He is, he is acting. [01:13:40] Speaker A: He didn't have much to say. And then over time, yes, he was given a lot more lines. [01:13:45] Speaker B: That's what I think. It's a true lie. [01:13:47] Speaker A: He had not. Yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes. [01:13:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:13:51] Speaker A: I don't, I don't, I don't want to come off like I'm diminishing his. But Arnold was unique in that. He was different yet memorable and memorable in each of the characters that he played. [01:14:02] Speaker B: But that was my point is that like if you watch Arnold and Pumping Iron, that's Arnold being Arnold. That's his natural state. [01:14:08] Speaker A: Yes. [01:14:09] Speaker B: He never once played that character in those movies. That's my point. [01:14:13] Speaker A: Exactly, Exactly. So be the rock with the people. But when you get up on that silver screen, I need to believe this is you. Who that ever. That character is that you're supposed to play. Especially, you know, a lot of these characters like that he played, they were brand new characters that were characters for that movie. [01:14:37] Speaker B: He. [01:14:38] Speaker A: And he was different in each of those movies. With the Rock, he's always the rock. That's the problem in live action or in real life, you know. [01:14:48] Speaker B: Exactly. That was. That's exactly it. The right. The rock is the rock in Rampage, the rock with one leg and Skyscraper. The right. He's always the same guy. That's what he just became the same character. And it's indistinguishable from his like real life Persona. Like it's just. [01:15:02] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, let us know in the comment section below what you guys think of all these things that happened this week. Some big things happened. But yeah, hit that like, and subscribe, hit that notification bell because we don't really post every day. So when we do post is an opportunity to get our thoughts and perspectives on what's happening in the world of superhero film and TV genre. You'll see you next time on NRJ Report.