Warner Brothers has reportedly narrowed down the search for a director to replace Doug Liman after he abandoned the movie that centers on the superheroes from the dark side of DC universe.
- Aug 20, 2017
AceShowbiz - Warner Brothers has reportedly narrowed down the director search for "Justice League Dark" to two horror movie helmers. According to a scoop from Beyond the Trailer, the studio is zeroing in on Daniel Espinosa and Gerard Johnstone to helm the upcoming DC movie.
Espinosa is a Swedish filmmaker whose credits include "Easy Money", "Safe House" and "Child 44". He recently directed a horror sci-fier "Life" that reunited him with his "Safe House" actor Ryan Reynolds. The movie also starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson.
Meanwhile, Johnstone is an up-and-coming director from New Zealand. He only has one movie under his belt. 2014's horror comedy "Housebound" marked his directorial debut. It premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival and revolved around a woman sentenced to house arrest in a haunted house.
Rupert Wyatt ("The Escapist", "Rise of the Planet of the Apes") was originally attached to serve behind the lens for the movie that will explore the DC Dark Universe, but he was replaced by Doug Liman ("Edge of Tomorrow", "Jason Bourne"). Liman boarded the project after giving up "X-Men" spin-off "Gambit" which suffered from numerous delays due to script issues.
However, Liman eventually left as well. Andres Muschietti ("Mama", "It") and Damian Szifron who won BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language for his anthology movie "Wild Tales" later emerged as candidates for the job.
"Justice League Dark" centers on a dark and less popular "Justice League" team. The band consists of John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Zatanna and Etrigan the Demon. It's developed as part of DC Extended Universe which started with "Man of Steel" that introduced Henry Cavill as Superman.
Three movies have since been released as part of the universe. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" pitted Superman against Ben Affleck's Batman. "Suicide Squad" united DC villains including The Joker and Harley Quinn. "Wonder Woman" led by Gal Gadot became the first solo female superhero feature film.
DCEU will continue with a "Justice League" movie that features Ezra Miller as The Flash, Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Ray Fisher as Cyborg. It's due November 17 stateside.
