Posted in: Netflix, TV | Tagged: Mark Millar, martin scorsese, netflix, starlight

Mark Millar on Starlight, Netflix, Martin Scorsese, Marvel Superhero Movies and the Magic Wish Glove

Published Sat, 04 Jan 2020 09:15:02 -0600

We mentioned Mark Millar's comments about DC Comics abandoning Superman's secret identity on John Siuntres' Word Balloon podcast. But he had a few things to say about Netflix, Martin Scorsese and superhero movies too. How much you can actually believe, well, that's down to you.

He talked about how whenever studios approached Millarworld about licensing a property, they would also ask about buying the company, and when they seriously started considering it, word got out and there was a bit of a bidding war. He describes Netflix however as 'our guys, we sat down and had a good laugh, it was like hanging out with your pals.'

Millar has talked about not really watching television, but now he has to and has been catching up, binge-watching Games Of Thrones – something he was annoyed that everyone wanted to take about years ago and now no one wants to talk about it with him anymore, and he's only onto series 5.

As to his own work being adapted by various teams at Netflix, he currently half full-length movies, half series, depending on which works better with the property. "Like earlier we were discussing doing Jupiter's Legacy as a movie, and it didn't work as a movie, too big, even a trilogy wasn't enough… I was talking to James Gunn and he said this is a tv show … what would have been a one-minute flashback in a movie, now it can be 3 episodes of a tv series"

On the status of previous film productions made before the Netflix acquisition, "Before we sold the company, there were many deals at studios for the different projects and you know that subsidises everything… now we want it all at Netflix and now quietly one by one they're all coming back…the only one not coming back for a few years is Starlight, which is a such a shame. Fox was hot for it, then Fox was bought by Disney and in a world of Spider-Man and Elsa, Starlight is just low on the priority list … but you know in a few years we'll get it back. What I love about Netflix is we have 17 franchises and every one we have a plan for."

The first through the gate will be Jupiter's Legacy, which they have "just finished filming last week. They've set a date, I just can't tell you." But he's very excited about 60-80 million people seeing their stuff. Frank Quitely was out on the set, and he came back like a ten-year-old, so excited.

And while naming some of the people working on which show, Steven DeKnight on Jupiter's Legacy, the Gout brothers on American Jesus, with Leopoldo turningup in at his house in Scotland with a bag of booze, Michael Bacall having written Sharkey The Bounty Hunter, Lindsay Beer has written two, Magic Order and Empress, Reborn with Sandra Bullock… "saying it out loud sounds I've gone mad, I'm walking around in public place saying this."

He talked about being on the phone on a bus talking about casting Kick-Ass and wondering about Matt Damon's availability, and realising that everyone else on was looking at him like he was a psychopath.

He says that right now, half of what he creates inhouse at Netflix will appear as a comic, and a half as a TV show/film. He still wants to turn some of the latter into comics though, such as he did with The Magic Order, and then Netflix will offer to fund the artists, which had Olivier Coipel working from the TV show's production bible.

As to other people's movies – including those passed on his own work – "Civil War, it was okay, but I must admit I was quite bored." He also fell asleep twice in Age Of Ultron – though he loved Guardians and Ant-Man. "Infinity Gauntlet was okay, Endgame was terrific" but he was amused to see con-comics fans taken in by the Infinity Gauntlet cliffhanger. "Black Panther just grossed 1.2 billion and he's dead? Really? But kids were traumatised… the magic wish glove made things go away, magic wish glove will bring them all back."

Regarding Martin Scorsese's comments on superhero movies, he said "I totally get it. I can't believe it's even a controversy. Scorcese wasn't interested in Star Wars when he was 35 why would he be into this when he's 75? No surprise he's not especially interested in Iron Man. I can't believe it was a headline…. Francis Ford Coppola was sad that Lucas went off and became the Star Wars guy after American Graffiti. He's not going to suddenly watch Ant-Man.'

Listen to "Television Comic Books Mark Millar The Barefoot (Netflix) Executive" on Spreaker.