'Smallville' heads get OK for Aquaman pilot at WB
13 November 2005 (The Hollywood Reporter)
WB Network has given a put pilot commitment to a live-action rendering of the DC Comics character Aquaman from Smallville executive producers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough and Warner Bros. Television. The project is envisioned as a contemporary reinterpretation of the character who lives in the deep sea and enlists sharks and other oceanic creatures to help him in his crime-fighting endeavors. Millar and Gough have deftly handled the same chores for WB and WBTV during the past five seasons of Smallville, which tells the story of Clark Kent's teenage years and his coming-of-age as Superman. The new-model Aquaman will be a man in his early twenties. As is the case on Smallville, there won't be any presto-chango into costumes or other superhero accessories when his superpowers are invoked, a WB Network spokesman said.
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I think this is a stupid idea and it will fail. Smallville does ok and has decent ratings, but you cannot compare Superman with Aquaman and the popularity and story of both superheroes. Who the fuck cares about Aquaman? Whats the story? Where is the movie? It doesnt make any sense in my opinion.
I would rather see the series about a young Bruce Wayne (which was another project that Millar and Gough wanted to do at some point). Bruce Wayne is a more interesting character, and Gotham, and Alfred, etc. You can really develop a character, showing how the guy grew up with no parents, in school, with that constant strange feeling. Aquaman is bullshit!
Aquaman Star Washes Up
Newcomer cast in WB series.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed rumors that first began circulating online over the weekend that unknown actor Will Toale has been cast in the title role of The WB Network's forthcoming series, Aquaman.
With the casting of Toale, THR says the WB has now ordered a pilot for Aquaman. The trade reminds us that the series is "a contemporary reinterpretation of the character who lives in the deep sea and enlists oceanic creatures to help him in his crime-fighting endeavors."
Smallville vets Miles Millar and Alfred Gough will serve as the series' writers and executive producers.
Toale's best known effort has been a supporting role in the Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.
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This cracks me up. Every time I remember there's gonna be an Aquaman show, I crack up.
Aquaman... he's lamer than Captain Planet.
They should have gone with Vincent Chase.
I would see anything with Vinny Chase in it, even if it was a big piece of shit.
I heard Queens Boulevard was great.
I still dont get the fucking decision to make this show... WHO WILL WATCH?
Smallville is doing OK, but doesnt have great ratings... never did. But thats Superman... how far is that from Aquaman?
If J.C agreed to do it in an alternate T.V reality, it makes sense that someone in this reality thought it should actually be made.
wow, Aquaman is like Surface meets Smallville.
If the theme song is by Jethro Tull, I'm watchin' this!
There's a BUNGLE! / In the WATER!
...someone with more inspiration than I, feel free to finish that tune.
Aquaman Pilot
Miami has a brand new vice. Details straight from the producer.
Smallville writer-exec producer Al Gough has spoken to two Web sites about his next small-screen DC superhero collaboration with partner Miles Millar and The WB Network, Aquaman. In an interview with Television Without Pity, Gough confirmed that he and Millar will remain on Smallville as they work on Aquaman.
"We're going to be doing both shows. The nice thing about Smallville is it'll be in Season 6, so definitely it's a well-oiled machine. We have a terrific writing staff and great production staff in Vancouver. I don't think it'll require as much of our time. Aquaman, being a new show, will. I think we can balance both given we have a lot of good people on Smallville and some of them we'll move over to Aquaman."
When asked if Aquaman would air as a regular series in the fall, Gough replied, "The plan would be that if we don't violently (expletive) it up in the pilot by next fall."
In a separate interview with TV Guide, Gough confirmed that "we are prepping to start shooting in March in Miami." He also revealed that Aquaman, a.k.a. Arthur Curry (Will Toale), "lives in the Florida Keys, and again, it's a guy in his twenties who really doesn't know about his destiny and has these abilities. He uses them to have fun and get laid, but then in the pilot, destiny comes knocking at his door and he realizes what his true calling is, which is that he's the exiled prince of Atlantis. We liken him to Prince Hal in Henry IV, before he becomes Henry V. It's about getting his act together because his future holds bigger things than running a dive shop."
"There will be a fair amount of tank work, but we're not going to Atlantis or anything like that. Plus, you obviously also have the Bermuda Triangle down there as well, so that plays a part."
Quote from: MacGuffin on January 24, 2006, 12:02:58 PM
it's a guy in his twenties who really doesn't know about his destiny and has these abilities. He uses them to have fun and get laid, but then in the pilot, destiny comes knocking at his door and he realizes what his true calling is, which is that he's the exiled prince of Atlantis.
He uses the ability to communicate with fish to get laid?
reverse mermaids, dude.
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Aquaman Pleads For Mercy
TV pilot gets a new title.
According to AquamanTV, the DC Comics superhero's TV pilot for the fledgling CW network has been retitled. Series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville) always insisted the show would not be called Aquaman and it turns out they weren't kidding.
AquamanTV first claimed that there were two rumored working titles for the pilot: Tempest Key and Mercy Reef.
As the site points out, the first title "comes from Tempest Key, a place where there is a marine institute and a coast guard station." But, "in the comics, baby Arthur Curry was found on the coral of Mercy Reef."
AquamanTV now says that Mercy Reef is indeed the title of the pilot. Filming begins shortly with Will Toale cast in the lead role of Curry (the future Aquaman).
If they're going to do any type of spinoff it should be Bruce Wayne growing up. Kind of a "Yound Indiana Jones" type show where he's training himself and dealing with the loss of his parents.
Aquaman is right up there with Plastic Man on my list of invented youth.
Actually, the young Bruce Wayne show was the first one that Al Gough and Miles Millar wanted to do before Smallville. The WB rejected it, and they went for Smallville. But I think the show about a young Bruce Wayne would be very cool.
Quote from: Raikus on February 10, 2006, 11:41:24 AM
Aquaman is right up there with Plastic Man on my list of invented youth.
Wouldn't a Plastic Man show be awesome? Every week he would foil robbers with little black masks whom are trying to steal bags with dollar signs on them from the bank.
I would
definitely watch a Plastic Man show. "Mercy Reef" not so much.
"Vengeance"'s Denise Quiñones Dives In To Mercy Reef
Denise Quiñones, who guest starred on the Feb. 2 episode of Smallville ("Vengeance") as Andrea, the "Avenging Angel," has been cast as the female lead in the Aquaman TV pilot being prepared for The CW by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
Denise plays a character named "Rachel."
The project is also said to finally have a title - Mercy Reef - which comes from the same name as the place where the baby who would later be Aquaman washed ashore. Mercy Reef will star Will Toale in the role of Arthur "A.C." Curry, a role originated by Alan Ritchson in the Smallville episode "Aqua."
She was Miss Universe in 2001 or 2002...
Although the CW decided not to pick up the Aquaman series, somebody posted the trailer online. I have to admit, it looks a little cheesy and I dont love Aquaman, but its not bad at all. Check it out!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pv7YlUiI1-w&search=aquaman
A Green Light for 'Aqua'?
An "Aquaman" film or TV project may move from an "Entourage" bit into reality.
Source: Los Angeles Times
"Aquaman," one of Hollywood's hottest inside jokes, might make the move from fiction to reality. As a key plot line in HBO's "Entourage," the "movie" directed by James Cameron shattered box-office records (a feat that got it a real ad in Variety), turned an unknown actor into a $20-million movie star and sparked a fight over a sequel.
But now, informal talks have been launched about the feasibility of making a real Warner Bros. "Aquaman" movie. In one of the strangest twists of this life-imitating-art tale, the talent agent at the center of the informal "Aquaman" talks is Ari Emanuel, the brassy Endeavor partner on whom "Entourage" agent Ari Gold is based.
Warner Bros. said Thursday that the studio "is not currently developing" an "Aquaman" project. But according to four people familiar with the idea, conversations already have been held about the character's film rights, controlled by DC Comics, itself a part of Time Warner Inc. One top filmmaker's name also has surfaced as a potential "Aquaman" director — "Charlie's Angels" alumnus McG. The director is finishing the football film "We Are Marshall"; his reps declined comment on the "Aquaman" prospects.
"It's obviously very flattering," says Doug Ellin, the creator of "Entourage" who came up with the "Aquaman" plot. "We sort of made an 'Aquaman' movie a believable possibility."
There's no denying that Aquaman, a fast-swimming superhero who debuted in a 1941 comic, is enjoying a pop-culture renaissance. In "Entourage," a weekly series about actor Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his Hollywood posse, the movie opens to record box-office grosses of $116.8 million. In the days before "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" debuted this month, industry executives ironically wondered if the sequel would do " 'Aquaman' business." When CNBC reported on the record-breaking opening of "Pirates," anchor Joe Kernen said it had outperformed "Aquaman"; Kernen later said he was joking.
Earlier this week, a previously unseen pilot for an "Aquaman" TV series debuted on iTunes, and the show immediately became the website's most-downloaded video, Apple said.
The TV pilot was created by screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who launched the popular "Superman"-inspired series "Smallville." The "Aquaman" series was initially conceived as a Warner Bros. Television production for the WB network, which has merged with UPN into the new CW network.
The pilot stars Justin Hartley as Arthur "AC" Curry, a young environmental activist grappling with his fledgling responsibilities as the prince of the lost city of Atlantis, shrouded in the Bermuda Triangle. Like the comic book character, Aquaman can breathe underwater — he possesses preternatural power when wet, which diminishes as he dries off.
"For whatever reason, they ultimately decided not to pick it up," says Gough of CW's response to the pilot. "The pilot may not be perfect, but you can certainly see a series there."
You can also see potential audience interest. When Aquaman made a cameo on "Smallville" last season, it was the season's highest-rated episode.
Gough says he is nevertheless pleased that Warners gave his and Millar's pilot to iTunes. In addition to generating thousands of downloads, the pilot also is attracting strong feedback within the industry, enough that Gough holds out slim hope that it could attract enough Internet interest to revive "Aquaman" as a TV series.
An "Aquaman" movie may be even more of a longshot. A feature film would involve costly special effects and might call for long segments filmed under and on the water, a feat tough enough to almost derail both "Titanic" and "Waterworld." What's more, comic book fans know Aquaman as a member of the Justice League or the Super Friends — where the King of the Seven Seas, as he is also known, plays second fiddle to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
Several people involved in the preliminary discussions about a feature film said untangling the movie rights could prove difficult. A DC Comics spokesman did not return phone and e-mail messages. Emanuel was on a family vacation and could not be reached for comment.
All the same, the "Aquaman" movie in "Entourage" began as a joke and became a smash hit. "I picked it because it sounded like a ridiculous movie," Ellin says.
That an "Aquaman" movie is even being contemplated underscores "Entourage's" following both inside and outside of Hollywood.
"It was a strong initiative from the very beginning to make the show as real as possible," says Ellin. "That way, people would think it's reality."
This is going to be worse than Aquaman II.
For anybody who cares... although the CW didnt pick up the series for next season, the Pilot is now available for download on iTunes. It's been the #1 downloaded show for several days, so I guess they are trying to push it out there so that the CW may reconsider bringing the show in for mid-season.
Quote from: polkablues on January 24, 2006, 06:42:10 PM
He uses the ability to communicate with fish to get laid?
you idiot, he obviously sweet talks the fish into having glorious butt seckz with him.