BY DAVID SERVER | David 'Typhon24' Server here, checking in with a brief report on the recent ManiaFest 2003 'Comics to Film' panel held in Santa Monica, California. When I heard that some of my favorite comic-book movie-makers were gathering to discuss the current state of funny book flicks in Hollywood, I made sure to check it out so I could report back for you guys. The panel consisted of Marvel Comics Maestro Stan Lee, Warner Brothers' Bat-Producer Michael Uslan, 'Mask' director Chuck Russell, 'X-Men' and X2 screenwriter David Hayter, and last but not least X-Men and X2 Executive Producer Tom DeSanto. Also scheduled to appear was director Guillermo del Toro (of 'Blade II' and the upcoming 'Hellboy' movie), but sadly he had to cancel due to an illness in the family. Del Toro was there in spirit, however, as a freely distributed new issue of Cinescape Magazine featured an awesome new still of Ron Perlman in his HB make-up (which, by the by, can currently be seen in our Hellboy gallery). I know that most of you are probably here to find out the latest news on upcoming comic book flicks that was revealed at the panel, but I thought I would briefly provide some words of wisdom from the group regarding their experience in how to make a successful comic book movie. I'll try to keep it short, though - if you just want the news, scroll down now.

Still here? Good - there's some quality stuff in here, and you prospective filmmakers just might learn something. Anyways, after the group had taken their seats and the audience was in place, the panel was ready to begin. It kicked off with the quintessential question  how the heck do you make a good comic book movie? Instead of, say, 'Batman and Robin'? DeSanto, clad in a classic Superman logo tee ("I never thought I'd applaud a guy with a Superman T-shirt..." jokingly prodded Lee) decided to take the first swing at the question. "It's not about reinventing the wheel, necessarily," offered DeSanto. "So many times people who aren't familiar with the books or the material or the subject would want to change it just for the sake of changing it, and they'd lose the core of what made it special. Y'know, Superman's been successful for almost 70 years, and that's for a reason. You don't make Lex Luthor a Kryptonian Super-Agent. You don't tamper with these things. You get these people in there that just don't understand it. And I think that's a fault sometimes in the studio system. And that system is built around who you know as opposed to what you can do...but I think that's changing...so it's really up to us to make sure that we sort of explain why these things work to the people that don't understand them."

David Hayter agreed, noting that "people who were not comic book fans were writing these movies before, and they thought that they needed to be 'comic-booky', and I don't know what that means to them, I think it means the original Batman show with 'Pow' and 'Zoop' and 'Bang' and whatnot, and that's not what makes it great. I was talking to a crowd earlier about a moment in the first X-Men movie where [Rogue asks Wolverine] 'when the claws come out, does it hurt', and he says 'every time'. That's from an old X-Men comic book, I just found it in an archive comic in [Tom's] office...and I was like, that's what makes it cool...these people are real, and their powers don't make their lives perfect, their powers make their lives difficult. And I think that's what was brilliant about the first 'Batman', is he kinda couldn't have a girlfriend because he's a schizophrenic nighttime vigilante, and that causes a problem in your life! It's trying to weave in reality into these worlds of fantasy that make it work."

"What you said is so profound, it goes for all movies," interjected Stan Lee. "In so many movies, whether they're adventure, or science fiction, whatever they are...even romance, if the characters don't seem real, and if they don't have problems that we the audience don't relate to, than we don't care about them, it's hard to really get concerned about them. So no matter what type of movie you're working on, to me, the most essential thing is to have characters that are real people with real problems, and we in the audience want to see 'how will they solve these problems?' Assuming they can, and there'll be times they can't. And that what makes a film, when you get caught up in the lives of people you care about...[too many filmmakers] forget that one rule, and they just play up the weird elements."

Director Chuck Russell and Producer Michael Uslan went on to discuss some of the previous comic book movies they have worked on, and what made those past ventures successful ones. Said Russell of his work on 'The Mask', "there's a level of commitment and belief in characters that we're trying to put up on the screen, even with something as funny as 'The Mask', I cared about those characters...There was a commitment on every level, and I think the audience senses that...What the Greeks had in their Mythology, I think comic heroes have been for us, there's great tragedy and high drama and even humor in all those Greek myths. It's fun we have the tools to do these things now in film in terms of the effects as well."

While Russell spoke of the importance of a sense of realism in your characters, Uslan reinforced the significance of the design process, specifically in the previous Batman films, and how significant that can be for the believability of a comic flick. "As far as I was concerned, there were 2 geniuses working in that film, Tim Burton and a dear friend of mine, [Production Designer] Anton Furst...Tim was the one who was wise enough to say that if Gotham City is not at least the third most important character in that first Batman movie, than we'll fail. He said the audience from the opening frames must believe in Gotham City in order for them to believe there is a Batman and that there is a Joker fighting each other. It is only in creating the universe, and setting up the rules that hopefully will be consistent in that universe, that you can get the audience to suspend their disbelief."

There were some other pearls of wisdom shared at the panel, but you guys want some good solid news already, doncha? Well, here you go; here's the real meat, the production updates. Without further ado, here are the quotes straight from the horses respective mouths about the current projects they're working on.

Tom DeSanto's been pretty busy trying to 'transform' a classic 80s property to film. "I've been spending the past few months working on 'Transformers', which is based on a comic book and an animated series," said DeSanto. "But again, even through they're robots, going back through the mythology, they're really great characters." And what about everyone's favorite squad of mutant misfits? "And there's rumblings of 'X-Men 3' down the line, and that's pretty much it." Just rumblings, Tom?! C'mon  it's been, what, months since you guys released X2! Get the lead out!!!

David Hayter confirmed that he will begin directing a certain comics classic just as soon as he finishes with some other screenwriting projects. "I'm trying to finish various writing projects, and then I'll be making my directorial debut with 'Watchmen'. The cool thing about Watchmen," commented Hayter, "is that it is a complete story...and it's really a murder mystery that has a great beginning, middle, and end. And for years, people have been saying, 'oh, that's unfilmable, you'll never be able to translate that', and I disagreed, this is the greatest movie I've ever seen. So I'm looking forward to doing that, something with such...profundity." Taking on something as epic and sprawling as 'Watchmen' is certainly a gutsy move for a first time director, but Hayter seems genuinely passionate about the project, so here's hoping he has the skill to back up that enthusiasm.

Michael Uslan had a whole boatload of news on the Warner Brother/DC movie front, which is good since they've been pretty much dormant so far. "I'll mention that we begin shooting 'Constantine' tomorrow...fantastic, fantastic script," enthused Uslan. "And I have to especially credit the people who have done such a good job, it's taken years to get this going...Lauren Shuler Donner, Lorenzo DiBonaventura. This is gonna be a good one, folks, it really is. 'Catwoman' starts shooting a week from Monday with Halle Berry and Sharon Stone. And again, give credit where credit is due to Denise Di Novi...the wonderful, wonderful group of people you know so well from Batman Animated have a Batman animated direct-to- DVD, 'Mystery of the Batwoman', coming out October 21st. And you've probably been hearing, but I will not talk about it publicly, bits and pieces about the upcoming little opus starring Batman. And finally, there'll be an announcement that we'll be making shortly concerning a new comic book property we're gonna be doing. And I can't comment on it yet, except you have to have real passion for what you do, and you have to have the right SPIRIT." Regarding the in-development 'Shazaam' movie, Uslan commented, "We have got a wonderful screenplay from William Goldman, I'm working with all the guys from New Line, and everybody is working hard, everybody gets it, folks, everybody gets it. And I hope we'll have some real important things to tell you later on." In all fairness, all the above projects pale in comparison to the much hyped Chris Nolan 'Batman' project with Christian Bale, but at least if that project falls apart (heaven forbid), DC will have a few in the can until they can pull their heavy hitters together.

Chuck Russell reports that he is heavily involved in bringing the CrossGen comics line to theaters, with different projects all in various stages of conception. "I have become immersed in the CrossGen properties, without trying to do anything within one brand, I'm doing a couple different genres of CrossGen projects. Right now, for 'Way of the Rat' I've just finished writing the screenplay for DreamWorks...And if you're familiar with these other CrossGen properties, 'The Path', which is an amazing period samurai adventure, and a project called 'Scion', which is a really terrific futuristic sci-fi piece. These aren't superhero properties, per se, they happen to come from comics, they have really amazing very literary roots, in my opinion, strong genre roots, and they're just wonderful properties." I've honestly never read CrossGen, so I've got nothing on this one. Congrats to all the Gen fans out there  good days ahead for you folks.

And last but of course not least, we come to Stan Lee. Other than his recent animated project 'Striperella' with Pam Anderson and his upcoming animated 'Hef's Superbunnies' (yes, you read that right...), Stan is prepping his first live action properties, skipping the comic book middle-man and going straight to theaters via POW! Entertainment (Purveyors of Wonder  doesn't get any more Stan Lee than that). "We're working on some new movies. What I'm doing is instead of doing comic books and then having them translated to movies, now I'm working directly in the movies. So I've written about six things which are now in development as movies...I'm doing it as a beginner in the field while they're all pros," Lee said in reference to the panelists around him. "We young guys, there's gotta be a place for us!" Some of the projects he's discussing likely include the previously announced 'Double Man', 'Nightbird', and 'The Femizons'. It'll be interesting to see how Stan's more classic sensibilities work in a more cynical modern comic book world  but like the rest of the comic-reading universe, I've got nothing but faith in whatever Stan's got in store.

After those announcements and some quick questions from the audience, there was a large round of applause for the panelists and that was that. Well, true believers, consider yourself all caught up  those were the highlights of the panel. We've got some photos from the event for you to check out, so give them a look. Thanks to Mania Entertainment for the event  I wonder who they'll snag next year! That's all for now! Excelsior (sorry  I couldn't help it)!