Man of Steel Writer Reveals Tony Scott Met With Chris Nolan About Directing

David S. Goyer, the writer and director behind Apple TV+’s Foundation, says that the process of landing Zack Snyder for Man of Steel was a pretty easy one — they had a shortlist of five directors, and Snyder was ultimately hand-picked by The Dark Knight filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who produced the film, and helped Goyer get it off the ground during production on The Dark Knight Rises. Eventually, it was boiled down to just two names: Snyder, and Enemy of the State filmmaker Tony Scott. Scott, who died in 2012. In addition to Man of Steel, the filmmaker was also once attached to the Millarworld superhero movie Nemesis.

Scott — the brother of Blade Runner and Prometheus director Ridley Scott — likely would never have been able to finish Man of Steel, which came out that same year. He died after jumping from a bridge, but his suicide was seemingly a way of escaping a painful death due to inoperable cancer.

“It was a very deliberative process,” Goyer said. Chris met with I want to say about five directors and it came down to Zack and another director, and it felt like Zack was the right call. I think Zack was the right call. It was really exciting, the fact that Zack wanted to shoot that movie handheld, which was I thought a brilliant idea. What’s interesting in the Elseworlds version of what could have been is, Chris had already met with Tony Scott, so there’s a version of a Tony Scott Man of Steel in some parallel universe. I think Tony Scott doesn’t get as much credit as he should be given, because he was an equally phenomenal director as his brother, and that’s a movie I would have liked to have seen.”

You can see the full interview below.

Speaking with Josh Horowitz for Happy Sad Confused, Goyer also discusses the fan response to the movie (and to Superman killing General Zod), his opinions on the development of DC’s failed cinematic universe, and more. It’s worth a listen, especially if you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes machinations of Goyer and Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy and the transition from those films into the DC Extended Universe.

Henry Cavill’s Superman appeared in a few more movies after Man of Steel — Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, and Black Adam — but never got a sequel of his own. The next Superman solo movie, starring David Corenswett in the role, is planned for 2025.