CINEMA
Why Tim Burton didn’t like Nicolas Cage’s Flash cameo
The director of Batman ‘89 and Batman Returns was going to direct his own Man of Steel movie with Superman Lives.
Superman Lives hails from a distant past, as far back as to introduce a younger Nicolas Cage who was poised to embody a very unique rendition of the Man of Steel. Warner Bros. conceived this film with Tim Burton at the helm, following his successful superheroic take on Batman in cinema. However, it ultimately fell by the wayside.
Nonetheless, prior to its cancellation, several costume tests were conducted with Cage donning the Superman suit in the mid-1990s. Recently, The Flash resurrected this version of the Man of Steel for various multiversal cameos through CGI, something that Burton himself has distanced himself from in a recent chat, saying he was in quiet revolt against it.
Tim Burton not fan of the Superman Lives!
In an interview with the British Film Institute, the director of Batman and Edward Scissorhands - among many other films - expressed discomfort with the use of his concept of Superman as a CGI cameo in a contemporary film.
“It goes into another AI thing, and this is why I think I’m over it with the studio. They can take what you did, Batman or whatever, and culturally misappropriate it, or whatever you want to call it. Even though you’re a slave of Disney or Warner Brothers, they can do whatever they want. So in my latter years of life, I’m in quiet revolt against all this.”
“I can’t describe the feeling it gives you. It reminded me of when other cultures say, ‘Don’t take my picture because it is taking away your soul.’ What it does is it sucks something from you. It takes something from your soul or psyche; that is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It’s like a robot taking your humanity, your soul.”
And regarding the scrapping of his project with Cage:
“I don’t have regrets, but I will say this: when you work that long on a project and it doesn’t happen, it affects you for the rest of your life. Because you get passionate about things, and each thing is an unknown journey, and it wasn’t there yet.
“But it’s one of those experiences that never leaves you, a little bit.”