With the current box office success of Mad Max: Fury Road and the overall popularity of comic book superhero movies, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that there’s renewed interest in the failed 2007 Justice League movie to be made by director George Miller.
If you’re unfamiliar with this, the project was titled Justice League: Mortal and was to star a cast of young actors portraying the famous DC Comics superheroes and villains. Among the more well-known names in the ensemble were Common, cast as the John Stewart version of Green Lantern, and Adam Brody (The O.C.), who was set to be The Flash. Jay Baruchel (Man Seeking Woman) would have been the bad guy, Maxwell Lord. Armie Hammer (The Social Network, The Lone Ranger) was an unknown at the time, and was going to play Batman.
A variety of factors eventually resulted in Justice League: Mortal being shelved, chief among them the Writers Guild of America strike that prevented anyone from continuing to work on the film’s script beforehand or while the movie was being shot. And from most accounts, the screenplay by Kieran and Michele Mulroney (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) was problematic and in need of improvements. (You can actually read the script at Superhero Movie News.)
Princess Diana flies through Themyscira #MillersjusticeLeagueMortal #JusticeLeagueMortal #Wonderwoman pic.twitter.com/LobU5m6pwB
— Miller’s JL – Doco (@JLdoco) May 29, 2015
There was also concern of having different interpretations of characters in separate films. Reportedly, Christopher Nolan was not happy about having a younger, perhaps more superheroic Batman in another movie conflicting with his grim, grounded take on the character in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. As you might expect, budgets and locations were also a major consideration, especially since a movie featuring so many superheroic characters in the same story had never been made before.
But curiosity over the Justice League movie that never was continues to linger. Years later, Warner Brothers has a new initiative to create a universe of films from DC Comics superheroes (centered by Henry Cavill’s Superman and Ben Affleck’s Batman) and compete with Marvel’s Avengers franchise. Then you have Miller making the breakout hit of the summer in his Mad Max sequel, which has earned $115 million at the domestic box office thus far. Two great tastes that taste great together? It almost happened.
Something else that’s gained popularity among filmmakers and fans of fantasy and superhero cinema are documentaries about projects that were in development but never made. Last year, Jodorowsky’s Dune — a look at cult director Alejandro Jodorowky’s attempt to adapt the legendary sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert — received a theatrical release and a 98 percent positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes. (I listed it among my top ten movies of 2014.) Documentaries about Tim Burton’s attempted 1998 Superman movie and Roger Corman’s unreleased 1994 Fantastic Four film will be released this year.
Ladies & Gentlemen – your King of Atlantis. #Aquaman #JusticeLeagueMortal #MillersJusticeLeagueMortal Lets go viral! pic.twitter.com/7zIh4jx2U2 — Miller’s JL – Doco (@JLdoco) May 30, 2015
Also in the works is a project about Miller’s Justice League film. As first reported by Inside Film, director Ryan Unicomb, along with producers Aaron Cater and Steven Caldwell want to make a documentary about the development process and behind-the-scenes machinations of Justice League: Mortal. The filmmakers intend to interview crew members, concept artists, costume and set designers, actors and producers who worked on the movie. Naturally, they would also want to talk to Miller and his production partner Doug Mitchell, but have yet to approach them.
To stoke interest in their proposed documentary — carrying the working title Miller’s Justice League Mortal — producers have posted concept art from the canceled film on Twitter and Facebook set up for the project. As we’ve included throughout this post, that artwork includes a look at Wonder Woman’s Amazon homeland of Themyscria, a possible costume for Aquaman and a head mold for Martian Manhunter (who would have been played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, who later got the part of Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road).
“I am Mars’ sole survivor. There is a reason for that.” – J’onn J’onzz – The Martian Manhunter. #JusticeLeagueMortal pic.twitter.com/myHMjdiukz
— Miller’s JL – Doco (@JLdoco) May 31, 2015
In addition, artist Steve Skroce — who drew X-Men and Spider-Man comic books for Marvel in the mid-90s before moving on to storyboard work on films such as The Matrix and Jupiter Ascending — saw some of the Justice League: Mortal concept art being posted online and decided to share some of the storyboards depicting a battle between Superman and Wonder Woman he drew up for the movie on his Facebook page.
But Unicomb and his producers will almost certainly need help to get their documentary made, though they reportedly have private investors lined up. Jon Schnepp, director of The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? successfully funded his film through Kickstarter, while Marty Langford raised money for Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four with an indiegogo campaign, so there is certainly precedent for movie fans to bankroll such projects.
The appetite for anything superhero-related and the intrigue surrounding movies that were never made is at an all-time high. This documentary is obviously seeking to capitalize on that, but between funding and gaining access to enough people associated with the film to fill out a feature-length documentary, there’s a long way to go. And if producers can’t get Miller’s cooperation, it’s difficult to imagine this movie being completed. But the concept art posted so far is enticing and supposedly there’s more to be shared if Miller’s Justice League Mortal ultimately gets made.
