If you were dreading the birth of George Miller’s High School Musical version of The Justice League of America, time for a sigh of relief. If you were hoping to draw a paycheck from the production, on the other hand, it’s time to look for work. But you knew that, since (as IESB reports) meetings yesterday gave the crew one week’s notice. Me, I’m just sad that we might not have another chance to use this photo any time soon.
Production on Miller’s flick has been put on indefinite hold, the cast options have been allowed to lapse and, while WB is still telling the young actors that the studio still wants to make the movie with them, a whole raft of problems is going to keep the cameras from rolling at least until summer, if they ever crank up at all.
WB is citing a lack of tax breaks in addition to script problems complicated by the WGA strike as reason for the shutdown. That ‘official’ stance, via Variety, is good enough, but it’s fun to entertain the rumors that WB wasn’t happy with Miller’s cast, that Christopher Nolan was making his displeasure with the competing film known, and that the whole deal was beginning to stink like the Flash’s sack after a run around the equator.
Again, the project is not cancelled; the film is officially ‘on hold’ until the writer’s strike ends, after which a couple of script passes and renewed (or entirely new) cast options could set it back in motion. Obviously, there’s a superhero team sized hole in WB’s schedule for summer ’09 now.
The best part of this story, though, is that it takes a hiatus for us to get any official confirmation about the cast. This is the first word we’ve heard via WB or a trade that casting rumors originating on a number of sites were on the money. It’s all right there, though: Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Armie Hammer as Batman and Adam Brody as the Flash. The only big casting news not mentioned is Rupert Evans or Scott Porter as Superman. But that’s a big rumor set confirmed. I’d throw out some sarcastic thanks to Warner Brothers for the late breaking news, but I don’t want that to override my very genuine gratitude for putting a bullet in the head of this beast.
Will it rise agian?