Don’t Expect To See A Talky Superhero Movie From Jay And Mark Duplass
We shouldn’t expect to see a superhero movie fromJayandMark Duplass. The writers and directors ofCyrus,The Puffy Chair, andJeff, Who Lives at Homehave no interest in making “products,” as they put it.
After the jump, learn why we won’t see a Jay and Mark Duplass superhero movie.
The directors are at home making small-budget movies they have complete control over. They faced minor struggles on their most expensive movie,Cyrus, when the studio saw it as a chance to make a crowd-pleaisng comedy. Obviously, if it came down to making a film 50 times bigger than that dramedy, they’d deal with similar but bigger challenges.
At a Writers Guild Foundation event,LA Magazinereports, the directors were asked if they’d ever been offered the opportunity to helm a superhero movie. Mark responded:
We said no. The thing that happens when you sign on to a $180 million movie is that the movie is not a movie. It’s a commodity. We’re not in that business.
Jay had this to add, describing a Batman and Robin movie I’d certainly like to see:
It’s very easy to blow people’s minds in Hollywood. Just say no. Now, if it were Batman and Robin as a 98 percent relationship drama in the Bat Cave… I would bet that’s 12,000 people’s favorite movie.
A Marvel movie wouldn’t ever be a Mark and Jay Duplass movie. Some directors, likeJames Gunn(Guardians of the Galaxy) orPeyton Reed(Ant-Man), can make their own movies within that framework, so they don’t feel completely like products. Mark and Jay Duplass, on the other hand, tell stories that couldn’t be further removed from the superhero formula.
Mark Duplass is also known as an actor. His performance in FX’sThe Leaguehas made his face recognizable to general audiences, but he doesn’t have any interest in being a “name.“Chris Pratthas transitioned from TV to movie stardom, which is something Duplass, according to his interview withScreen Crush, is apprehensive about trying:
I think there was a minute where I thought, I might attempt to do this. I might take a run at this and be like the Paul Rudd or what Chris Pratt has become. This was last year. And then the little taste I got of losing my anonymity from the two weeksTammywas on billboards scared the shit out of me. And I was like, nothing is worth losing my public privacy and I will specifically will not do it. Being the lead inThe One I Love? Great. Twenty minutes inZero Dark Thirty? Great. Being the lead of aGuardians of the Galaxyand losing my ability to walk thorough a city with my children?
