ashleycrosby.com live!

Not that many of you are going to care, but I did just recently bring my personal website online! So, now you check there for:

• my current writing and status
• commission prices
• graphic work
• contact info

So obviously, not going to be what you all are going to want to look at every day, but for me it's what I need to keep my projects organized and start to establish myself as being legit :)

So take a look if you want. Opinions always help me.

URL:  http://www.ashleycrosby.com

Man of Steel (the inner screenwriter speaks)

I certainly wouldn't expect you non-superman fans to notice, but this last week, we got a lot of new announcements about Man of Steel moving forward. Since I didn't agree with all the choices made on Superman Returns, I'm just felt like I needed to give my full two cents this time around. Not like anybody in Hollywood is going to listen to me, but not going to get anywhere without the ideas planted first, right?

• Two announcements within the space of two days is no coincidence. They are seriously cracking down on production to get it finished by next summer. It's smart; more than three years between the films is going to mean a good chance of losing interest with that small group that took the movie and fully grabbed onto it. Everyone else, it's not going to matter, but summer is certainly going to be the best choice.
• IESB: "Word is Transformers/Star Trek scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are considering being behind the project. This gives Superman fans hope after Returns' mild disappointment amongst fan boys." What about the fan girls come on! My problems with the film were different from everyone else's it seems, but new writers always stir up the pot...but let's talk about those writers for a moment, shall we? Am I excited for Star Trek? Absolutely...but unless I remember incorrectly, J. J. Abrams did the final draft, or had a huge hand in it. Now let's look at Orci and Kurtzman's track record: Transformers, Legend of Zorro, and The Island, to name a few. The second two I like, Transformers however I could barely get through. Why? DIALOG! The dialog in all three of those films SUCKED! Oh, it was absolutely horrendous. And I don't want anybody to tell me that it was supposed to be bad in Transformers because it's bad in all three, just it happens to be the worst. These guys are amazing action screenwriters (I mean, their action is holy freakin' crap awesome), but they suck at dialog. What's my main beef against SR? The dialog, and the lack of Clark dialog altogether. There was absolutely zero characterization through Clark's dialog. Superman had a little, but only during the "How Could You Leave Us?" sequence. What makes the original two movies so fun is the natural wit to the dialog, its cadence, and the irony of the cheesy statements. Granted, the cheesy statements won't fly anymore, but the wit and cadence would. It's already a superhero movie. Let's not make it worse by giving it the worst possible dialog.
• Singer: "I’m starting to develop a sequel...with the intention of directing it." Good, that's happy news (I do like Bryan Singer, if for no other reason than he's a nut, and I like nuts. Just like JJ Abrams. Brilliant minds but they're nuts).
• Singer: "The first one was a romantic film and a nostalgic film. I’ll be the first person to own up to that without making any apologies for it. I knew it was going to be that from the outset." Nostalgic, yes. Romantic? More like anti-romantic, but yeah, I suppose so...
• Singer: "And now that the characters are established, there’s really an opportunity to up the threat levels." Okay, Bryan, here's where I disagree. The characters are established? Tell me, what kind of personality does Clark have? Does he feel anything other than nostalgia, hope, and sadness? Does he have a personality, or is he all Superman? Every character was set up except Clark. Anyone else think that's a problem? Oh, and upping the threat level is easy, you don't make it about real estate. The end.
• Singer: "All those teenage girls who found the movie and mooned over James Marsden or Brandon? Well, I’m going to wake them up!" I loled.

So...I'm pretty strong in my opinions about what I think they need to do with the new film, and I wish I could get on one of the creative writing teams. I would really like it, actually. But alas, I live in Utah.

• So...I want to contact WB and Bad Hat Harry Productions and be on the writing staff. They think they need more action, I think they need better character development. We can compromise. I think the compromise would be very beneficial for both of us.
• So far it's still just Brandon Routh and Kevin Spacey attached. It's funny because most people criticize Kate Bosworth. Is she Teri Hatcher? No, she isn't (and sorry Erica Durance fans, Teri Hatcher and will always be my Lois Lane), but I think she's close to what I would expect a mother Lois to be. My problem is Brandon. I felt nothing from him. Yeah, he looks the part perfectly, he even sounds like Chris Reeve, but I didn't get connected to him. I feel connected to Chris Reeve's and Dean Cain's Supermans, Tom Welling's Clark for the most part, but I feel absolutely no attachment to Brandon. Still, when I'm naming Supermans I forget him. Maybe he just needs more dialog, I dunno. I have a feeling we're getting a different Lois, though. We'll see who they find. Lois is harder to fill than people might think, particularly when your lines don't sound 100% like Lois (will everyone please remember that when they're criticizing Kate? She had lines to read, she didn't make up her dialog and actions on her own).
• One thing I hope they remember is they can't write these movies like they used to. I think the biggest problem with SR is they tried to be too faithful to the Donner movies. And I'm not talking story-wise. I'm talking pacing, character development, action vs. dialog...it feels like an old movie. Do I like that? Of course I do, but it doesn't draw a modern audience. A modern audience wants Marvel heroes and villains, everything in shades of gray. No, Supes can't get very gray, but Clark can to some degree, and they need to remember that these characters have to be multifaceted. Brandon's Clark wasn't. He existed. He needs to more than exist. If they want a Spidey or Batman X-Men crowd coming to the theater with us Superman freaks, they've got to put more depth into those characters. That's why Lois and Clark did so well, that's why Smallville was renewed for an 8th season. It's the shades of gray.