This year, the Man of Steel is entering into a new era with James Gunn‘s hotly anticipated Superman. Releasing in just under a month, it’s set as the official cinematic launch of the new DCU, and excitement has been building for the Guardians of the Galaxy helmer’s take on Clark Kent, which pulls from a variety of comics and features a deluge of heroes and villains in a meaty exploration of what makes Superman the hero we know and love. Long before Gunn and Peter Safran took the reins at DC, however, another creator with a deep knowledge and appreciation for the comics was close to seeing their vision for the last son of Krypton come to life from one of the standout action directors of the time. Now, Kevin Smith is opening up about that process of preparing for his unmade Superman Lives and nearly getting to work with Robert Rodriguez for it.
In an interview with Collider’s Robert Brian Taylor about his upcoming View Askewniverse crossover comic, Archie Meets Jay and Silent Bob, Smith was asked about the one project of his he wishes he could go back to and make happen at that time. Unsurprisingly, he chose Superman Lives, specifically the version that would’ve been helmed by Rodriguez. The movie was eventually handed off to Tim Burton to direct, albeit not before the studio had suggested Renny Harlin, but Rodriguez was the very first choice presented and one that Smith loved. At the time, the director was still fairly fresh on the scene, following the release of his feature debut, El Mariachi, and his acclaimed follow-ups Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn.
Smith recalled the conversation he had with Rodriguez after Warner Bros. had reached out with the offer to direct, and it immediately became a strong dialogue. Unfortunately for the Clerks mastermind, it didn’t last long. He looked back on the brief period when Rodriguez was weighing the aggressive offer from Warner Bros. and the request to helm The Faculty from Dimension Films, aka the studio that would eventually work with him on his beloved Spy Kids franchise. It was a bit of a Sliding Doors moment that changed the course for both creators, as Smith explained:
“There was a moment back in 1996-97 where Robert Rodriguez, who I knew a little bit from the world of indie film, called me up to be like, ‘Warner Bros. asked me to direct your Superman script.’ And I was like, ‘Please do it. Oh my god, do it. You’d be amazing for it.’ He goes, ‘I kind of like it. It’s fun, man. Walk me through it. Clearly you know more about Superman than I do.’ So it was a two-day period where he was trying to decide between Superman and this other project that he eventually wound up choosing because he felt he owed the studio. The studio was Dimension, and the movie was The Faculty. So he chose The Faculty instead of doing Superman. But for this one, like, two-day period, he was considering it. Warner Bros. wanted him big-time, and it would have been his biggest budget to date. But he was kind of finding his footing and became a Dimension guy. And I think… I don’t know if that followed Spy Kids or where Spy Kids was in the mix… but he felt like, ‘I owe one to Dimension.’ And so my version of Superman, Superman Lives, directed by Robert Rodriguez, never came to pass.“
‘Superman Lives’ Would Have Been a Welcome Change of Pace for Smith
Rodriguez’s decision would lead to Burton getting the job, with Nicolas Cage famously tapped to play the leading man. Smith himself would then be replaced with a former Burton collaborator in Wesley Strick, who had previously penned Batman Returns, with Dan Gilroy later coming in to help with the new script. All that would remain from the troubled creation of Superman Lives is an eventual surprise easter egg appearance by Cage in 2023’s The Flash, where he could be seen fighting a giant spider in a small glimpse of what could’ve been.
For Smith, part of the reason he wishes Superman Lives became a reality is also because it would’ve given him the rare opportunity to write a script without having to direct. He’s known for doing both on his own movies, like the Clerks trilogy, the Jay and Silent Bob movies, and his most recent effort, The 4:30 Movie, but he was eager to split the process with someone he knew could do his screenplay justice. While he’s excited to see Gunn’s take, he feels confident in what the combo of his writing and Rodriguez’s hand behind the camera could’ve accomplished:
“If I could make anything that didn’t happen happen, I think it would be that. Because I didn’t have the pressure of directing the movie myself. It would have been in the hands of one of my generation’s greatest and absolutely-f–king-on-point visionary action directors. That would have been a wonderful marriage of material, because that script — and I ain’t saying that’s the greatest script — but dialogue was sharp in that f–king script. And this was pre-Avengers, you know, before that became the norm and stuff. So I would have benefited as a screenwriter guy. ‘Hey, he wrote that!’ It probably would have opened more doors or created more opportunities. And those things never happen in a silo, so I imagine there would have been a couple Supermans, and, even if I didn’t write the next two, you still get a taste if it’s based on your script. And the pressure … even if people were like, ‘Oh, I hate that Superman’… then I’m like, ‘Yeah, well, blame Robert. He directed it.’ So I’d have had the benefit of being involved but not being involved, and I’ve never really had that.”
What Does Smith Have Coming Up Next?
For the time being, Smith is gearing up for Jay and Silent Bob‘s new crossover with the kids from Riverdale. Picking up from the tragic ending of Clerks III in 2022, which saw the death of Brian O’Halloran‘s Dante, the new publication hails from Archie Comics and Smith’s Secret Stash Press and will mark one of the View Askewniverse’s oddest stories yet by bringing together the crass humor of the famous cinematic duo with the otherwise clean-cut Archie universe. It takes place during a summer in which Archie gets a job at the Quick Shop and strikes up a surprising friendship with Randall Graves, all as the story confronts the harsh realities of death. Smith penned the double-sized crossover with art by Fernando Ruiz and Rich Koskowski, colors by Matt Herms, lettering by Jack Morelli, and a cover from Ruiz, Koslowski, and Rosario “Tito” Peña.
Archie Meets Jay and Silent Bob will be available for purchase on July 9. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on what Smith has prepared for fans next.