David Goyer is no stranger to DC Comics and their movies. He wrote The Dark Knight and Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, in addition to plenty of other shows and movies like Foundation. He’s on the press tour for Foundation right now, and our friend Brandon Davis of Phase Hero sat down with him. They gave us an exclusive preview of their upcoming episode and they talked all things Foundation but also got to talking about some of Goyer’s previous work like Batman V. Superman.

To no one’s surprise, any screenwriter or creative isn’t happy when their work doesn’t perform well. The critical reception to Batman V. Superman was pretty harsh.

“Well it’s a bummer and it’s it’s what I alluded to at the beginning of the interview, which is there’s so many factors that even with the best of intentions are out of your control even if you’re the director or if you’re the showrunner of a show and so it can be heartbreaking if something comes out and it doesn’t really adhere to the vision that you had in mind.

But it’s also the circumstances in which you’re you’re working. I mean, if you want if you want to have something come out and have it be solely your vision, write a novel. It’s a collaborative art form and it’s an art form that requires these days, an investment of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.“

The Factors That Went Into Batman V. Superman For Goyer

He went on to talk about his process and what he learned at an early age in his screenwriting career.

“So there’s there’s going to be compromises. There’s going to be factors that are going to weigh in that you don’t have any control over. I remember when I was at USC film school and my first screenwriting teacher said, ‘If at the end of your career, A, you’re fortunate to have some things made because many people use industry and make a living out of it but never have anything made…

But if at the end of your career you’re fortunate to have had to made a few things and you can walk away with one movie or one show that you’re truly happy with, you should consider that career success. And you know, I’ve probably got at least ten now, so I like to say; a third of my work, I’m super happy with. A third of my work is a push. And a third of my work I wish I could, like, have a pseudonym on.

And most of the time, the work that I wish I could have a pseudonym on, circumstances beyond completely beyond my control ruined it or in some cases, you can write a script and then be rewritten. You only need to have written a third to get credit on it, but a bunch of other people could have written on it. You would have no control over what they did or what they changed and yet your name is still on it. And that’s happened in some cases where I think that the finished product bears little resemblance to what I wrote. The Ghost Rider movies would be a version of that. I wasn’t I said they were both scripts massively rewritten. I had no control over that whatsoever. 

What Has Goyer Been Up To Lately?

The prolific writer/director David Goyer has been busy lately. In addition to his timeless credits like Dark City, The Dark Knight, Blade, and plenty of other films, he’s been working on Foundation for AppleTV+. The series tells the tale of a complex saga of humans scattered on planets throughout the galaxy living under the rule of a Galactic Empire. It stars Jared Harris, Lou Llobell, Lee Pace, Terrence Mann, and others. If you’re in the mood for some high science fiction epic, this is the series for you. Every episode across three seasons is on AppleTV+ to stream right now.

For more on TV, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

Source: Brandon Davis of Phase Hero

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