The Reel Rejects - MEETING W/ JAMES GUNN!! Superman & DCU Pressures, Online Hate, and Mr Terrific Inspirations!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Stop. Do you know how fast you were going? I'm going to have to write you a ticket to my new movie, The Naked Gun. Liam Nieson. Buy your tickets now. I get a free Tilly Dog. Not included. The Naked Gun. Tickets on sale now. August 1st. This episode is brought to you by Adidas. When the frustration grows and the doubts start to creep in, we all need someone who has our back. To tell us, we'll be okay, to remind us of our ability, to believe, because their belief in us transfers to self-belief and reminds us. us of all that we're capable of. We all need someone to make us believe.

Starting point is 00:00:34 Hashtag, you got this. There is the froe habitual, and there is the frow de montagne blue. The froy at its summit. Crosslight, you've envue a fraud celebrate in a fashion responsible. You have to have the age legal for consuming

Starting point is 00:00:48 the alcohol. I don't know if the writer's black is a real thing or not, but what I know is I have moments where I'm judging myself so harshly that it's difficult to feel good about what I'm writing. But my job as a writer isn't to feel good. My job is to write. So when I'm writing, I'm just sitting down and I'm taking those next moments in doing that thing. And if I'm writing crap, write crap. That's okay. That's my job too. Because eventually,

Starting point is 00:01:19 you know, you work through all of that and you get to something magical. I'm Greg Alba with the real rejects. I'm trying to play it cool. I'm trying to act like I'm not ready to piss my pants at any moment right now because this is one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of. I'm going to go talk to James Gum, one of my favorite filmmakers, for like five minutes. My heart's racing. I suffer with anxiety disorder and it's only getting worse. But I'm ready to go, baby. Let's do this. Okay, guys, I just got out of the elevator and I was not expecting what I am looking at right now.

Starting point is 00:01:56 There's a friend of ours. Today, say hi. Hey! Hey! I'm still like geeking out over this day, man. We are in heaven. I see her at so many people. You're one of the best people to talk to.

Starting point is 00:02:09 He's a legit nerd, too. I'm so happy to be here. I need to show them what we're looking at. This crypto statue. They got this phone booth thing. They have puppies here. There's actual, there's puppies here. There's all these pop figures.

Starting point is 00:02:26 I don't know if we're allowed to have. if we're allowed to have any pop figures but I would love to grab a bunch of pop figures ice cream I can't have because of my diet but damn this looks good super drinks they got a whole metropolis newsstand I wonder if they'll let us take some comics home that'd be so cool my god I got a whole daily planet what the hell this is not oh my god bizarre what is our own what It's so awesome. Oh, those are some fun Easter eggs.

Starting point is 00:03:03 What? Oh, my God. Dude, look how cool this is. Oh, my God. I love this so much. That's so cool. James, thanks so much for taking the time of talk with me. I really want to convey how much this movie meant to me. The thing I've been telling people when they ask how I responded to it is,

Starting point is 00:03:22 do you know that phrase when people say, like, that's my Batman? That's my Spider-Man. It's usually referring to the version that grew up. that's right yeah yeah and i've never really said that about superman even though i've loved so many live action versions but it was about halfway through this movie where it just hit me i think it was like being being kind as punk rock i was like that's my superman yeah well i love that man i love that i appreciate that he's my superman too yeah uh absolutely loved it the first question i want to ask is about the media element the online element specifically how superman uh talks about how i just thought it was so related

Starting point is 00:03:56 when he was saying, I don't go online, but clearly he actually gets affected by some of the comments from time to time. That's right. And obviously, you're active online. We've seen what you had to deal with from time to time. That's right. A couple little things here and there. Was any of that infusing in here cathartic for you or why did you want to incorporate Superman's responses that he has towards online criticism? Well, obviously, I relate.

Starting point is 00:04:22 You know, I mean, obviously I relate to that. I do tune out most of social media, but every once in a while, there'll be somebody who will say something. It's always the weirdest stuff. It's never what you expect. Some weird thing that I go, God, that guy, I'm gonna, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:35 and then I go, I think I might be getting upset about something a 12-year-old in India is saying. You know what I mean? I'm like, let it go. But I think that was really about, the whole scene, in fact,

Starting point is 00:04:46 is about focusing on the personal human side of Clark and being able to see who he is in an interior way. And he is one of the world's best guys. He's so kind. He's always looking out for people in need. But he's not perfect. He's flawed.

Starting point is 00:05:01 He has places, things that get to him. He has things that upset him. He can be a little bit too idealistic. He can definitely be a little too rash. And so I liked really getting to know Superman in that respect and allowing people who go to see the movie get to know him as a full human being, even though he's not exactly human. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:05:22 I completely, I think you 100% succeeded at them. Oh, thanks. One thing I wanted to ask, too, is some recommendations, actually. Okay. And the lead up to this, because of everything you've said, and also Coy, genre, the DC studios podcast, I've read so many comics leading into this, a birth ride for all seasons, all-star Superman, which I love seeing on screen, how you captured it, but Mr. Terrific with such a standout here, I'm curious what comic inspirations, specific ones that you take for Mr. Terrific,

Starting point is 00:05:49 if there's any one you could recommend? Oh, boy. I mean, I just think I liked the whole terrific series. I thought that worked great. And so he's always been an interesting character to me in the same way Peacemaker was, actually, because he's not perfect. He's never really been perfect. He's always been an odd guy, an odd man out, who has his own particular way of looking at the world. And so I've really enjoyed him as a tertiary character forever. And also, he looks different than any other character. So I always just like the vibe of the mass. and everything. I don't want to give anything away, but that one scene with it is pretty fun. Yeah. It's incredible. Absolutely incredible. My last question, and this was honestly the first, what I got offered to come here is the first thing that came to mind for me. An aspect that I absolutely related to is the idea of how to respond and react to pressure and responsibility. And I love seeing Superman have to combat that. And then I thought about you, how, you know, you have to write and direct these movies. And then you're also shepherding the DC universe. I'm just curious if you can maybe instill some advice on how one can perhaps increase their capacity for handling pressure and responsibility. And did working on Superman teach you anything about yourself in that area of how much you can handle? I think a few things. There's so much I could speak on this subject. But firstly, you know, our job as artists is to let go of all of that stuff

Starting point is 00:07:19 and speak to the part of us that's that's playful that's creative you know that's fun you know and I think that when I was writing Superman I'm real lucky to have a good memory I guess you know because I remember what it was like reading those first DC comics when I was a kid and reading Superman family and Batman family and and how magical it all was to me. And so now I'm able to try to do my best I can

Starting point is 00:07:51 to filter that through the eyes of an adult while still keeping everything about me as a child that like playing with action figures. I'm just playing with action figures, only their characters on a movie screen. For me, it's like letting go of everything outside of it and getting into that place. And for some reason, I'm able to do that.

Starting point is 00:08:10 I'm able to go into this fugue state when I'm writing. you know there's nothing else but the moment um and but i really did push myself for for a couple of years so i wrote creature commandos i wrote superman i wrote peacemaker season two all in one year 650 pages of material by the time i got the peacemaker like i was not fun really i mean i was forcing myself into doing it and you know what that was okay because i was like oh i got to write this stuff i was going away on new year's to hawai with my wife and and I couldn't spend any time because I was holed up in the hotel room all day

Starting point is 00:08:47 writing Peacemaker and I'm like, I'm writing your TV show. She's like, well, I'd rather have you my husband. I got to write the TV show. But, you know, it was hellish in a way, but still, you know, I would do it. I would write, right, right, right.

Starting point is 00:09:02 And I'd get the end. I'm going, oh, wow, that's pretty good. I'm surprised. But you have to, I have to let go of the judgment of myself because that's the, you know, problem with creativity. People ask me all the time about writer's block. I'm like, I don't know if the writer's block is a real thing or not. But what I know is I have moments where I'm judging myself so harshly that it's difficult to feel good about what I'm writing. But my job as a writer

Starting point is 00:09:28 isn't to feel good. My job is to write. So when I'm writing, I'm just sitting down and I'm taking those next moments in doing that thing. And if I'm writing crap, write crap. That's okay. That's my job. too because eventually you know you work through all of that and you get to something magical and sometimes I get to the end of something and I was like oh I thought that was horrible the whole time I was writing it and then I read it it it's pretty good and other times I feel great about something and I read it and I go I don't know if that's as good as I thought it was so it's it's really just about not letting our feelings dictate our choices it's very much like

Starting point is 00:10:07 Superman right I mean that's really poor of what this movie's about it's like Like, you know, it's our choices who make us who we are. Yeah, I needed to hear that. Oh, good. Thank you. The last thing I'll say is I've listened to so many interviews with you. And I want to play a coolest whole time, but I've been freaking the fuck out the entire time leading into this. It's all good, man.

Starting point is 00:10:29 Thank you for your time. And I can't wait for people to experience this. It's an experience. So thank you. I appreciate that so much. I appreciate them. Yeah. Thank you.

Your Ad Here

The Reel Rejects - MEETING W/ JAMES GUNN!! Superman & DCU Pressures, Online Hate, and Mr Terrific Inspirations!

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.