Man Of Steel Writer Recalls One Of The Worst Studio Notes He's Ever Received

Hollywood screenwriter David Goyer has shared a story about one of the worst notes he received from a studio executive for one of his movies. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Goyer said he received a bewildering note from the studio for the Superman movie Man of Steel.

The studio told Goyer he needed to change the ending to Man of Steel and make it so the pod that Superman uses to help save the day doesn't get destroyed. The studio executives said this had to change because, if the pod was destroyed, how would Superman return to Krypton? The only thing is... Krypton was already destroyed.

"One note I got was on Man of Steel, where the ending involves Superman utilizing the pod that he arrived in as a child in order to bring down General Zod's ship," Goyer said. "The note we got from the studio said, 'You have to change that.' We asked why. They said, 'Because if Superman uses that pod and it's destroyed while saving the city, how is he ever going to get back home to Krypton?' There was just this long pause and we said, 'Krypton blew up. You saw 30 minutes of it!'"

On the other side of the coin, Goyer said one of the best notes he's received from a higher-up at a studio came from Apple TV+ development boss Matt Cherniss for his new sci-fi show Foundation. Goyer and his team were struggling to wrap their heads around the show's complicated time jumps and other story elements that depart from what might considered traditional. Cherniss' note was simple. He said, "F**k it, just lean into it," Goyer recalls.

"So we broke with traditional story structures in various ways. The structure changes from episode to episode. Most of the time, studio executives say, 'How do you make it more normal? How do you make it fall in line with what the audience would expect?' He encouraged me to not do that, which was unusual," Goyer said.

Goyer is also known for his story work on The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. More recently, he produced the Chris Pratt movie The Tomorrow War, while he also worked on the story for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.