"Big"+ Superman= "Shazam?"
John August, the man who wrote "Big Fish," and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is also writing the "Shazam!" movie, and the MTV Movie Blog caught up with him to talk about it.
"A comic-book film which centers on an unlikely hero, 'Shazam' is 'very different' from all 'the other flying people in tights movies,' insisted August. 'It's not Spider-Man plus jokes. There's really good comic potential there,' he asserted, revealing that his film — an origin story — owes as much to 'Big' as it does to 'Superman.'"
After Jeff Smith's recent "Shazam" mini-series showcasing the comic possibilities of Captain Marvel, I could see how, if played right, this could be a superhero movie with the right mix of humor and action. August, has always been known for his comedic writing, but it is in his first movie "Go," that he proved he could mix the perfect amount of comedy and action, while still being true to the characters in the film.
He also says how he's turning the script in "tomorrow," and how the interview with MTV was actually keeping him from putting on some finishing touches. With the script being turned in within days, and fast-track movies being all the rage these days (e.g.: the JLA movie), perhaps we could see Billy Batson at the multiplex sooner than expected.
Rumor has it the first couple drafts of this script were pretty awful and that it's had to go through a couple rewrites...