Dimension Films has set its Scary Movie 3 team of David Zucker, Craig Mazin and Robert Weiss to tackle Superhero!, reports Variety.

The trade says the comedy will poke fun at the multitude of superhero films, from Spider-Man to next summer's Batman Begins and Fantastic Four. Mazin will script, Zucker will direct and Weiss is producing.

The trio also is continuing work on Scary Movie 4, which is a Dimension priority given that the third film made $110 million.

Dimension Films co-chairman Bob Weinstein and co-presidents Brad Weston and Andrew Rona signed them to work on both the Superhero! and Scary Movie 4 scripts at the same time. It is considered likely that Superhero! will go into production next spring, with Scary Movie 4 to follow.

Frankly, no one should write, prep, shoot and post a movie in 9 months. That's the real lesson of SM4.

[...]

[Weinsteins brothers] seem to finally understand that now. Funny story. We had 10.5 months on SM3, and when it was done, we all agreed that was the stupidest schedule anyone had ever undergone for a major motion picture. So when it came time for SM4...what happened?

They tried to make the schedule 8.5 months!!! I had to bargain just to get 10.5 months!

Which I didn't get, but at least I was assured that the writing period would be just as long as it was on SM3.

And THEN what happened? One day during the writing period, it occurred to me that things weren't adding up. So I did the math.

It was much shorter than SM3.

I was very, very, very angry that day.

But for Superhero! (working on it now!), we have gotten a realistic schedule. Thank God. Here's hoping it translates into a better, funnier, more polished film.

Superhero!, the film I’m working on right now, is, well…I’m not allowed to say anything about that, but I can say its spoof style will be less Scary Movie and more…well, I can’t say.
[...]
I can say though that if you like your spoof more traditional, I think you’ll enjoy Superhero! It’s something we get to create from the bottom up, and we are actively resisting spoofmobile-ism*, pop culture lampooning, etc.

qui joue dedans? qui qui qui?

Source: Dimension Films
September 20, 2007


Dimension films has announced the start of principal photography and the ensemble cast for the feature comedy Superhero. Written and directed by Craig Mazin (Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4), the ensemble cast includes Drake Bell (Nickelodeon's "Drake and Josh"), Sara Paxton (Aquamarine), Christopher McDonald (Requiem for a Dream), Leslie Nielsen (Scary Movie 4, Scary Movie 3, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult), Kevin Hart (Along Came Polly), Marion Ross ("Happy Days," The Evening Star), Ryan Hansen ("Veronica Mars"), Jeffrey Tambor ("Arrested Development"), and Brent Spiner (Independence Day, "Star Trek: First Contact"). David Zucker (Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, Airplane) and Robert K. Weiss (Scary Movie 4, Scary Movie 3, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult) will serve as producers on Superhero. The announcement was made today by Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films.

After record-breaking successes on Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, and The Naked Gun 2: The Smell of Fear, filmmakers Craig Mazin, David Zucker and Robert K. Weiss are reversing some of the key roles they held in these successful collaborations -- Craig Mazin will direct Superhero with the legendary David Zucker serving as a writer and producer on the project.

Superhero will follow in the traditions of "Airplane" and "Naked Gun" in spoofing the conventions of the popular superhero movie genre.

Bob Weinstein stated, "Craig and David are comedic geniuses. With this great script and this talented team at the helm, 'Superhero,' is certain to be another winner for all of us."

David Zucker’s new spoof, “Superhero!” (pretty self-explanatory) is on the hunt to find a ‘Pope’, ‘King of Sweden’, ‘Dalai Lama’, ‘Nelson Mandela’, ‘Queen of Sweden’, ‘Desmond Tutu’, and ‘Prince Charles’, casting agents were informed this week.

Filming in Los Angeles, the film tells of a high school senior who is suddenly and violently endowed with super powers and must grapple with the challenges of his new responsibilities.

"What happens on the set of your movie if a joke isn’t playing? Do you just keep going with the written version? Do the actors come up with alternate versions? What do you do if you come up with a great alternate joke, but can’t use it?"

Since the strike began, I have stuck to the script. No new jokes. If something isn’t working, then frankly…I’m fucked. I’ll probably just cut around it.

An actor asked yesterday if he could add a line, and I allowed it, because it wasn’t my idea (and better yet, it ended up being off-screen, so I doubt I’ll use it anyway).

I have zero intention of violating the strike rules.

Now, for those of you who might question this, I should point out that this kind of movie I’m doing…spoof comedy…is all about shooting the script. The gags are technical, so everything has to be laid out before hand and planned carefully.

Those of you who hate my movies will certainly find this amusing, but what can I tell ya?

Regardless, this isn’t an Apatow movie where ad libbing rules the day and scenes are shot in a fluid style.

It’s very structured.

As such, I don’t think I’ll run into too much trouble, but if I do…well…sucks to be me.

I won’t scab.

Also, I hate to keep reiterating this, but not one member of my crew (including myself) has crossed a single picket line. If it happens, I’ll talk about it. It hasn’t yet, and I hope it doesn’t.