Even the director of Promising Young Woman thought her take on Zatanna was too bizarre for a superhero film!
The early 2020s were a fascinating period for comic book movies. Riding the wave of Avengers: Endgame's massive success and perhaps seeking more critical acclaim, producers were keen to bring in unique artistic voices to the Marvel and DC universes. This led to some interesting, though sometimes jarring, collaborations, like Chloé Zhao transitioning from her Oscar-winning drama Nomadland to the decidedly different Eternals, or Sam Raimi attempting to blend his distinctive style with the established aesthetic of a Doctor Strange movie.
Even by these standards, the decision to enlist Emerald Fennell, fresh off her provocative revenge thriller Promising Young Woman, to pen a script for a movie centered on DC Comics' resident mistress of magic, Zatanna, was a bold move.
And it turns out, Fennell herself agrees! She recently admitted that the script she delivered to Warner Bros. for a Zatanna film, a project she took on after a recommendation from her friend J.J. Abrams, was, in her own words, "demented."
Fennell shared these thoughts while promoting her latest film, Saltburn, which is expected to be released around Valentine's Day. She humorously suggested that perhaps Saltburn isn't quite weird enough, a stark contrast to her Zatanna script. In a recent chat with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Fennell explained her approach to the magical heroine's story, a project that was first reported to be in development back in 2021.
"I think it was demented because I was probably going through it at the time," Fennell confessed. "And the thing is, I think what I can’t help but—and then, I’d just finished A Promising Young Woman, and there was this huge thing in this world I’d never operated in. And again, it was a kind of superhero movie, and I was like, ‘How do I make the version of a superhero movie that I would connect to emotionally?’ Which is sort of the woman in the middle of a nervous breakdown, so it’s a script reflective of a woman in the middle of a nervous breakdown. And in terms of what that means, I suppose it just meant that it was probably too far away from the genre."
Fennell further elaborated that the script was "really dark." She admitted she hasn't revisited it in years, partly due to a feeling of having let down J.J. Abrams and the producers involved. "They were really lovely about it, it’s even just remembering," she told host Josh Horowitz. "You’re making me remember scenes, I’m like, ‘Nobody would have made that.’"
But here's where it gets controversial... Zatanna, created in 1964 by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, has always occupied a unique space in the DC universe, bridging the gap between its more lighthearted and its more profound narratives. She's a character who sports the flashy attire of a classic stage magician while possessing a nearly limitless magical ability, capable of manifesting anything as long as she can speak it backward. Despite her appearances in various animated series, every cinematic attempt to bring her to life, including Fennell's unproduced script and Guillermo Del Toro's planned Justice League Dark project, has yet to materialize.
What do you think? Is it a good thing that directors are pushing the boundaries of superhero films, even if it means some projects don't get made? Or should these characters stick closer to their established genre roots? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
