MGM is getting into the superhero game. The studio rarely releases gigantic movies, with the exception of the Bond movies, but are now making smaller scale superhero movies. The studio is now teaming up with indie darling filmmaker, David Robert Mitchell, for an original superhero pic.
Heroes & Villains
Mitchell is most famous for having directed the especially good horror movie, It Follows, and the deeply polarizing and self-indulgent A24 film, Under the Silverlake. Heroes & Villains is an original idea by Mitchell, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Nobody knows what it’s about yet, but a David Robert Mitchell superhero pic sounds wild.
Who is David Robert Mitchell?
Mitchell is not the kind of filmmaker Marvel or Warner Bros. would hire to direct a comic book movie. Their style of filmmaking and Mitchell’s couldn’t be more different. Clearly, Mitchell is a director who wants to make his vision, not somebody else’s. That’s why him of all people directing an original superhero movie is very promising. How does someone with his point-of-view see heroes and villains? Hopefully, we’ll find out in the next few years. Casting is expecting to begin soon on the MGM project.
Another MGM Superhero Pic
The studio has another original superhero pic in the making with the Sylvester Stallone-led Samaritan. The movie was filming a few months ago but had to shut down production due to the coronavirus. In the film, a young boy discovers a hero long thought to be dead. Samaritan is directed by Julius Avery, whose horror movie Overlord is a pure blast. Samaritan is scheduled to come out next June. If production can resume soon, the movie should still hit its release date. Already, countries and cities around the world are already gearing up to go back in production with new safety precautions.
A New Kind of Superhero Movie?
From the sound of it, MGM is now focusing on making original superhero movies. They’re getting in the game. Without $100 million budgets, maybe MGM can make more specific, less crowd-pleasing superhero movies. There’s room for it. Superhero movies could certainly use more moral ambiguity and originality. It’s a very established formula now, thanks to Marvel, so it’s time for different superhero stories. Some would argue it’s not time for superhero stories after the countless we’ve seen the last 15 years, but people love them, so what are you going to do?
Remembering Under the Silverlake
We now can’t talk about David Robert Mitchell without talking about Under the Silverlake. It’s a sprawling, self-indulgent Los Angeles nightmare. The movie is kind of a hipster’s dream or nightmare. It’s a bold movie, that’s for sure. Following the success of It Follows, Mitchell took a big swing. A24 delayed and dumped the movie, which has since quickly gained a cult following. It’s a love it or hate it experience.
Under the Silverlake is not a middle-of-the-road movie, so there’s very few middling responses to it. It’s a movie that can say a lot about a viewer. It deals with pop culture, toxic masculinity, codes and hidden messages, and a dog killer on the loose. It’s too much movie with many highs and lows, but at the end of the day, it’s a reminder Mitchell is a real talent with sincere ambitions. That sincerity is why we look forward to his superhero movie.
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