Lost Films - Justice League: Mortal

Disclaimer: I could be wrong on some details. So take this post with a grain of salt.

November 17,2017 is the year we will get to see the Justice League on the big screen but this wasn't the first time Warner Bros. was going to do this. For any of you who don't know back in 2009 we were going to get a film titled Justice League: Mortal which would have been directed by George Miller of Mad Max fame. But let's start all the way to the beginning all the way back to 2007.

Part One - Planning

In February 2007 Warner Bros. hired couple Kieran and Michele Mulroney to write a script for they yet untitled Justice League film. Then in June they handed in the script and the studio gave them positive feedback. Then in September 2007 Warner Bros. hired George Miller to direct, they also hoped to get the film started before the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike. They also thought of doing the film in motion capture. Motion capture was used for such films like The Polar Express and Beowulf. The budget for this film was supposedly $220 million.

Part Two - Production and Downfall

Warner Bros. wanted filming to start as earlier as February 2008 in Australia this is also where post-production would also be done. Some shooting took place at Sydney Head. Then in January 2008 the film was on indefinite hold which would allow for more options for casting. Also around this time the studio thought the script could use more work which was a difficult challenge because at this time the writer's strike was going on. Then when the strike ended Warner Bros. wanted to continue filming somewhere in mid-April 2008 still hoping to get a 2009 release date. In February 2008 the studio decided to move production from Australia to Canada even through George Miller wanted to stay with Fox Studios Australia. More trouble came because then there was the Screen Actors Guild strike in June 2008 at this time The Mulroneys again rewrote the script with Warner Bros. and Miller's approval. We finally got the title for this film in which was Justice League: Mortal in March 2008 also around this time Warner decide that Australia wouldn't be housing production of the movie. Miller had this to say "A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry is being frittered away because of very lazy thinking. They're throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars of investment that the rest of the world is competing for and, much more significantly, highly skilled creative jobs." Then in December 2008 there were rumors that George Miller had left the project this was disproving from other filmmakers of the project. Now there are multiple reasons why this film didn't happen one of which could be the two strikes cause this film's downfall and the other being creativity but the ultimate downfall is Warner Bros. decided to continue doing solo superhero films.

Part Three - Cast and Crew

While casting for the film was never official various news sources reported that George Miller wanted younger actors that they could "grow into their roles over the course of a film trilogy". Now I don't have any information if this film was going be a trilogy but let's move on to who was going to play what superhero. The list goes

D.J. Controna as Clark Kent/Superman/Kal-El

Armie Hammer as Bruce Wayne/Batman

Megan Gale as Diana Price/Wonder Woman/Diana of Themyscira

Common as John Stewart/Green Lantern

Adam Brody as Barry Allen/The Flash

Santiago Cabrera as Arthur Curry/Aquaman

Hugh Keays-Byrne as J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter


Now let's move onto the villains of the movie and other stars of the film.


Teresa Palmer as Talia al Ghul

Jay Baruchel as Maxwell Lords

Zoe Kazan as Iris West

Anton Yelchin as Wally West(He would later pass away on June 19,2016)


Now let's list the crew that was going to help this the movie we almost got.


Dean Semler - Director of Photography

Marit Allen - Costume Designer(She would later pass away on November 26,2007 then replaced with Weta Workshop)

Emily Seresin - Costume Designer

Ken Ralston - Visual Effects Supervisor

Richard Norton - Stunt Coordinator/Fight Choreographer

Mark Rogers - Still Photographer



Part Four - Tie - In Video Game

Apparently Warner Bros. had a lot of faith in this film because there was also going to be a tie-in video game with the same name as the film it also would have been released in 2009. It would have been developed by Double Helix(who would later go on to make the Green Lantern movie tie-in video game back in 2011 titled Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters). Then like the film the project was shut down. Now to this day we don't have prototypes or demos that have been released to the public but we do have pictures. Here's a link to view them

http://lostmediaarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_League:_Mortal_(Scrapped_Tie-In_Movie_Video_Game)



Part Five - Inspiration For The Story

Now before I go on to anything else let's talk about what the film's story would have been the story would have been "Batman distrust the metahumans of the world creating an army of robots to replace the Justice League only for it to backfire and result in an army of robots who want world domination so now Batman has no choice but to trust the very people he planned against. The inspiration for the film would have been the stories JLA: Tower of Babel(which would get a movie in the direct-to-video animated film Justice League: Doom) and Superman: Sacrifice.



Part Six - Released Script, Concept Art, and Megan Gale's Wonder Woman Costume

Before I move on with the documentary based on the film here are some links to the leaked script, concept art, and what Megan Gale's costume would have been like.


https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4tilNmOgu5TRk9VMHU2QVdsaWc/edit

http://www.blastr.com/2015-6-1/images-day-wonder-woman-aquaman-and-martian-manhunter-revealed-justice-league-mortal

http://screenrant.com/wonder-woman-costume-miller-justice-league-movie/



Part Seven - The Documentary

The legacy of this movie continues because on May 25, 2015 a documentary surrounding the film's troubled production was announced. Later on July 17, 2015 teaser posters showing Batman, Superman(the one I'm using), Green Lantern, and other members would also be released and were made by BossLogic. The movie is to be produced by both Purryburry Productions and Caldwell Entertainment. The title for the documentary is supposedly Miller's Justice League Mortal set to be released somewhere in 2018 all it needs is Warner Bros. approval. Hopefully that documentary happens because I'm curious to what we would have gotten. Also if you want to here's a link to their official Twitter account. https://twitter.com/jldoco?lang=en


Anyway we still have eight months till Justice League comes out and I'm hoping it's another good movie from the DC Extended Universe.