Do we know fear?

Cautiously toss the confetti. McG is indeed no longer involved with the new Superman movie. Instead, Michael Bay has apparently confirmed on his website that he will now helm the latest bigscreen adventure of the Man of Steel. The logo at right appeared on Bay's site, with no other information, but the internet has been buzzing for at least a week that the king of big empty (but admittedly satisfying) action movies had stepped up to the plate.

This had all gone down after long-time producer Jon Peters seemed to be shoved off to the side in favor of Neal H. Moritz and his team. Moritz has a long and, to Warner Brothers, favorably recent string of hits, including The Fast and The Furious and XXX.

The presence of Moritz, too, lends credence but not confirmation to the rumor that Vin Diesel is being actively sought for the role of Lex Luthor. As much as Diesel's participation might fill some with disgust, he was excellently shifty in Boiler Room. If we get that actor, and not the talking monkey of The Chronicles of Riddick, it could be a good thing. Because let's face it, no matter how much we fans might want it, Warner Brothers is just not going to wait around for the cast of Smallville to grow up -- though Michael Rosenbaum leaves awfully big shoes for whoever ends up being Luthor.

Here's my hope: Michael Bay wants to be taken a bit more seriously. We know he can handle big action, but has often seemed awkward if not downright uninterested in smaller moments. Directing Superman could offer him the bridge to a career as a more serious artist. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but let me live in that fantasy world for just a little while longer. I'm so tired of having dry heaves every time somebody from WB makes an announcement about this project.

Anybody care to talk about it in the forums?

UPDATE: 7/2/04: Bay has taken the silver S logo off of his website. Once again, we're back to square one with their being no truth about this project, only rumors.

UPDATE: 7/6/04: Now The Hollywood Reporter has run a story claiming that the Bay site is run by a fan, and that Michael Bay has nothing to do with the Superman movie. There's also the requisite poo-pooing of the internet having run wild with the story. Well, we did. And if Michael Bay has no idea what's going on with MichaelBay.com, we'll sit through an Ashley Judd film festival.

If Bay is involved, then Warner Brothers doesn't want the news leaked, because, after all, the fans might have something to say about it, and if there's one thing Warner Brothers knows about its fans, it's that they should be milked, not heard.

Derek McCaw