Bryan Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is the director of Superman Returns, as well as a producer of the documentary Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman. He has also directed He has also directed the World War II historical thriller Valkyrie (2008), co-wrote/co-produced X-Men: First Class (2011), and directed the fantasy adventure film Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), as well as two more X-Men films, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). Singer also directed the Queen biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), although he was fired from the film shortly before its completion.
History[]
Directing Superman Returns[]
Singer conceived the storyline of "Superman returning to Earth after a five-year absence" during the filming of X2: X-Men United (2003). He presented the idea to X-Men (2000) and X2 producer Lauren Shuler Donner and her husband Richard Donner, director of Superman (1978). Donner greeted Singer's idea with positive feedback. At the time, Warner Bros. Pictures was commencing pre-production on Superman: Flyby, which had a target theatrical release date of June 2006. McG was signed to direct with a script by J.J. Abrams, but dropped out in June 2004. That same month, Singer was approached by WB to pitch his idea for Superman Returns, as he was preparing to leave for Hawaii on a short vacation with his X2 writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. While in Hawaii, Singer, Dougherty and Harris began to outline the film treatment. In July 2004, Singer signed on to direct and develop Superman Returns.
A fan of Donner's first movie, Singer decided do a throwback movie using the same concepts and John Williams' theme music, with a strong emphasis on the title character's romantic relationship with Lois Lane. Singer cast unknown actor Brandon Routh as Clark Kent, based on Rouths's resemblance to Christopher Reeve. According to Robert Meyer Burnett, Singer always carried a photo of Nicolas Cage with him to persuade WB, who at first insisted on radically altering Superman's traditional costume. Singer was able to prevent the removal of the red trunks, but compromised by muting the red and yellow on the costume.
Sequel plans[]
Singer recognized criticisms of Returns and planned a sequel, Superman: The Man of Steel, promising a more action-packed adventure. However, the mediocre reception and box office performance of Returns led to WB scrapping the plans and opting to instead reboot the Superman film franchise altogether with 2013's Man of Steel.
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