Trip to the Millar-verse, part 3: Readers think superheroes exist, their writers don’t.
Warning: Do not expose pale Scots to tropical climate. Use SPF 50000.
JZ: The thing with having such vocal fans online is that they will turn on you in a second if a character goes someplace they don’t like.
MM: The guy who runs Marvel said this brilliant line: “The readers think Spider-Man is real and the creator isn’t.” And it’s a very good point. When they don’t like something happening in Spider-Man they say, “Kill this guy!” Spider-Man is the one they protect, they don’t care about the human guy who writes him.
I get it, it’s your childhood you’re protecting. I remember at age 29 going to see the Star Wars prequel and being so angry. Cause it’s your childhood and when someone makes a wrong move with something you love, it’s powerful.
I like that, it keeps you on your toes…You can’t screw up, knowing there’s 100,000 people waiting to kill you. It makes you try harder.
JZ: Having worked on some movies, do you also want to direct?
MM: I started directing a film last year. What happened was that I got some private money together to finance this movie. It’s a British superhero movie about four guys who get superpowers, and one of them becomes evil so the others have to stop him. And I heard about Chronicle when I was five days into shooting it and I go, “(Bleeeet).” I even had the same thing with the levitating camera!
The worst thing is that Chronicle is brilliant, one of my favorite movies from the last couple of years, so I would’ve had the lamer version of Chronicle. I had to let it go. But a couple of years from now I’d like to try again. I’m producing quite a few movies now, like Kick-Ass 2, Nemesis, Superior, and I’m trying to find financing to do American Jesus, a book I did a few years back.
Read the rest in our column Emotional Weather Report, today in the Philippine Star.
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