STACK #227 September 2023

FEATURE MOVIE

Michael Keaton also reprised his character in the ill fated Batgirl movie, which was scrapped and shelved last year. DC plans to bring Batgirl into the new DC Universe later down the track. DYK?

The horror genre has always been fertile ground for budding filmmakers, with

some of the world’s most respected directors having risen from its soil. Francis Ford Coppola’s first film was Dementia 13 (1963), for example, and James Cameron made Piranha 2: The Spawning (1981). Meanwhile, the directors of some of the biggest superhero movies ever cut their teeth in the horror field. Here are some names which rose from the darkness… Andy MuschIetti: From Mama and Stephen

King’s It to The Flash Scott DerRickson: From Hellraiser Inferno to

The Flash sees Michael Keaton’s iconic Batman return to the screen after three decades, rough around the edges but ready to fight! Words Glenn Cochrane S eeing Keaton and Ezra Miller on screen together is the ultimate Flash-Bat; it’s a moment superhero fans have been fervently waiting for.

IT

Doctor Strange David S. Sanberg:

From Lights Out to Shazam! James Gunn: From Tromeo & Juliet to the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy

Hellraiser

Produced and directed by the brother and sister team of Andy (director) and Barbara Muschietti (producer), who previously made Stephen King’s It chapters one and two, the film is the 13th and final instalment of the DC Extended Universe, and is a fitting endcap to a capricious saga. Three decades after hanging up his cape following his early departure from the filming of Batman Forever (1995), Keaton agreed to reprise the character, seizing the current moviegoer’s appetite for legacy comebacks. Pursuing him in the first place seemed like a pipedream to the Muschietti siblings, who admit they were taken by surprise at his agreement. “I mean, Michael’s

Zack Snyder: From Dawn of the Dead to Man of Steel and Justice League James Wan:

Ezra Miller as The Flash

From Saw to Aquaman

Guillermo del Toro: From Cronos to Hellboy

Saw

we last saw him. It's such a multi-layered character. The big question was, ‘What does Bruce Wayne look like 25 years later?’ That was the beginning of our conversation, and we started talking about the recluse part of it. And I think part of Michael’s attraction to the role is that no one had ever

Ruben Fleischer:

From Zombieland to Venom Sam Raimi: From Evil Dead to the Spider-Man trilogy and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

seen Batman that way. What an amazing challenge - which he met, beautifully.” The most iconic image from Tim Burton’s earlier films was the Batsuit, and Barbara explains that Keaton was a lot comfier this time around. “I believe [it was] 30 years since the last time he'd worn it,” she says. “He told us that his son - who’s now an adult and a great music composer - was there as a tiny kid the last time he put it on. And this time when he put it on,

Zombieland

the coolest guy in the world,” says Andy. “He was very curious about playing Batman again. I was very excited, and I thought we were trying to sell something that he would never do. But at the end of it, we understood that it was everyone’s desire. “Then it was a journey of discovery of imagination with him - trying to figure out how the character would look, how the character would feel 25 years after

waiting 30 more years to play a character is that Alexandra Byrne, who’s our costume designer, made a huge effort to make his suit a lot more comfortable. He could finally move his head and move his legs!” Despite The Flash closing the book on the DC Extended Universe, the future remains bright with James Gunn at the studio’s helm, and ready to kick off the all-new DC Universe with his upcoming Superman: Legacy .

• The Flash is out Sep 13

he had his grandson. “I’ll add... the great thing about

9