New ‘He-Man’ Is A ‘Batman Begins-ification’

Posted by The Movie God

If you go back a little ways, there was an incredibly positive script review of Grayskull: Masters of the Universe, the new take on the ultra-nostalgic world of He-Man. If you didn’t read about the script review, I suggest you check it out (see A Glimpse Of ‘Grayskull: Masters Of The Universe’).

MTV talked to the film’s screenwriter Justin Marks, who had some things to add; things that might just give you a wet willy if the script review didn’t do it for you.

Marks calls the movie a re-invention, explaining it as similar to (as Latino Review’s El Mayimbe compared it to in his script review) a “Batman Begins-ification” where a character/franchise is completely done over in a much more realistic, much less cheesy way. We saw this in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and this is what is planned for the upcoming remakes for Robocop, Red Sonja, and Conan.

On the project, Marks also said:

I grew up on the ‘He-Man’ cartoon and watched ‘He-Man’ six days a week. The notion that I think we most took from the cartoon are the characters, and trying to find a way that is true to them. Now, at the same time, we had to come up with why that is the way it is. I mean you’re talking about sword-and-sandal meets science fiction meets fantasy meets everything, and how does that all kind of blend into the same world? And so we had to come up with very specific rules that explained why Trapjaw looks the way he looks, and why Cyclops — who is awesome — looks the way he looks…. The script is very true to the characters — we’re not talking about putting nipples on the Trapjaw suit. But we had to come up with a reason again why Trapjaw would actually not just be something that’s totally absurd, but why he would need those bionic parts added to him; which gives a sort of sense of where [the movie] is going in some way.

I was always a huge He-Man fan when I was but a wee-tyke, jumping on my father’s back, making him be that bad-ass green tiger thing and I even liked the first live-action attempt, but only because I was still a kid when that came out, too. But here and now, in my mid(ish) 20s, the more I hear and read about this project, the more psyched I am. I don’t even remember anything from the storylines — just a few characters — but if they really tear at this thing and make it a true fantasy built for the now-adult fan base that is has, man, look out for this one.

I just really hope they stick to the name Adam in this one; the name He-Man alone is a little too cheesy for what it sounds like they’re doing here.

Oh, and did you hear? That dude from American Gladiators auditioned for the role 14 times and nailed every one of them!

Original here