George Miller's justice league: mortal (2009) never happened.... Yes, a Justice league movie was in production after the failed justice league movie from 1997, titled Justice league of America (to know more about this movie, check out the article at Jonack Assam). The movie we are talking about today is a shelved DC movie or 'justice league trilogy' that was to be directed by George Miller. This movie has a rapid progress before it was eventually cancelled by it's makers. The film went on through the casting process of the entire Justice League members. Reportedly this movie might have been a comic accurate adaptation of the justice league from comics directly on the big screen 3 years before MCU launched it's team up superhero film Avengers (2012). The film was to be produced by Dan Lin, Doug Mitchell and Barrie M. Osborne. It was to be distributed by Warner Bros. It's story was written by Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney. Speaking more of the crew of this movie, director of photography was supposed to be Dean Semler, costume designer was to be done by Marit Allen and Emily Seresin - they almost designed all the suits of the characters of the movie (concepts are provided in this article aswell), Visual effects supervisor would have been Ken Ralston, fight choreography would have been done by Richard Norton. The movie was supposed to be made in a budget of 220 million USD.
Casting of this film
Armie Hammer was casted as the caped crusader- The batman / Bruce Wayne, Megan Gale was casted as the themyscirian princess- Diana/Wonder Woman, D.J. Cotrona was casted as the man of Steel- Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-el, Adam Brody was casted as the fastest man alive- The Flash, Barry Allen, Hugh Keays was casted as Martian Manhunter/J'onn J'onzz, Santiago Cabrera was casted as the king of Atlantis- Aquaman/Arthur Curry, Common (rapper) was casted as John Stewart/Green Lantern, Anton Yelchin was casted as the kid flash/Wallet West, Zoe Kazan was casted as Iris West, Jay Baruchel was casted as Maxwell Lord and Teresa Palmer was casted as Talia Al Ghul.
Progress of the movie
The story of this movie was written by Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney, the story being highly based on the comic stories JLA: Tower of Babel by Mark Weid and Superman: Sacrifice by Gail Simone, Greg Rucka, and Mark Verheiden, that was published previously by DC comics in the year 2000 and 2006. Warner Bros. gave a green light to the script that was made by Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney, therefore the filming of this movie was supposed to start in 2008 in Australia. In Australia the post production was also supposed to happen aswell. Some shooting was to take place at Sydney Heads, while local colleges were scouted for it. But before the progress could go any further, Warner Bros. put the film on hold due to the writers guild of America strike, later they announced for the permanent hold of the project.
Why was it cancelled?
Warner Bros. asked Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney to edit the script of the movie, later due to the writers guild of America strike, Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney couldn't complete the script of the movie. Resulting in a hold on the filming. Marit Allen was at first hired for the costume design, but during the costume designing period Marit Allen demised. She was later replaced by Emily Seresin, but Marit Allen's death slowed down the costume designing. While the casting for the film was never officially declared, though various pop culture news reporters were able to collect a number of Miller's casting choices, for which he chose predominantly younger actors who he had hoped would grow in their roles during the course of his film trilogy of Justice League. On October 2007, roughly 40 actors and actresses auditioned for the Justice League : mortal film. A number of other different actors were associated with the project like Jessica Biel, she had turned down the role of Wonder Woman, while Mary Elizabeth Winstead auditioned for it. Teresa Palmer and Shannyn Sossamon were also interested to work in this project, while Christina Milian, a comic book fan, offered her services for the role. Columbus Short turned down the role of Green Lantern, which rapper Vommon was also rumored for the role of green lantern. And such slow progression was a reason George Miller left the project and Warner Bros. put it on hold. Later Warner Bros. announced that they will be making solo movies on their popular iconic justice league characters batman, superman,wonder woman,flash and green lantern (later this idea was also dropped by Warner Bros. and by today we have the DCEU).
Will it ever be made in the future?
Well, the answer is 99% no and 1% yes. After James Gunn and Peter Safran have taken on the DCU for making films on the DC characters, there is hardly any chance we will be seeing this justice league : mortal movie. DCU themselves have got a lot of projects to come by and I do not think that they will look upon or even show any interest to complete this movie and release it. Though if George Miller and Warner Bros. Team up again to build this film, maybe we might see it. But for now, we shouldn't expect its completion.
(Written by Talha Amin)