After collaborating with director Bryan Singer on X2 and Superman Returns, it looks like screenwriters Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty will not be involved with the Super-sequel. According to Variety, Warner Bros. will soon be sifting through ideas from new screenwriters for the project. Despite earlier chatter that the next Superman movie would be sort of a "re-boot," the studio insists it will be a full-bore sequel with Brandon Routh returning for the title role.

Specifically why Harris and Dougherty left the project is anyone's guess -- but most likely the separation was instigated by the studio. (How often do writers "quit" from a property this huge?) No doubt they'll turn up with a few cool projects of their own. Together the guys also wrote Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, so maybe horror sequels are more their specialty. They're both directors in their own right: Harris helmed Imaginary Heroes, and Dougherty's first (a horror flick called Trick 'r Treat) is supposed to hit theaters ... eventually.

Once Singer and the studio have decided on who'll be penning the Superman sequel, you can be sure we'll let you know. Let's just hope Akiva Goldsman is swamped with work these days.

While you might expect to see Heroes coverage over at our sister site TV Squad, this falls into Cinematical's zone of influence because Eli Roth -- director of Cabin Fever, both of the Hostel movies and the fake trailer for Thanksgiving from Grindhouse -- is making a presumably temporary jump to the small screen. Heroes, of course, is the hit NBC series set in a world in which a handful of people suddenly find themselves gifted (or cursed) with super human abilities like flight, telepathy, mind control, etc. The spin-off series Heroes: Origins is a vehicle for introducing new characters as they discover their powers.

Roth will both write and direct an episode of Origins. The more I think about this, the more I think that if Roth had been brought on board for Heroes the first season, he would have been a natural for the episode in which Claire Bennett, the cheerleader with healing powers played by Hayden Panetierre, wakes up in the middle of her own autopsy and has to manually close the incision in her chest. Sounds like a classic Roth moment to me.

The show seems to be on a quest to put some big names behind the camera. Quentin Tarantino stated recently that he wasn't interested in directing an episode of the regular series, but Kevin Smith is on board to direct and Michael Dougherty, screenwriter for X2: X-Men United and Superman Returns will be penning an episode of Origins as well. I got hooked on Heroes right at the beginning and I'm curious to see what Roth and these others bring to the show. What about you?

Welcome back to The Write Stuff! I'm thrilled that there is such a strong interest in screenwriting out there. Thank you all so much for your comments last week, both here and on my site. All of your questions and comments will be addressed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and keep them coming!

The first interview for the column is with red-hot screenwriter Adam F. Goldberg. Adam is living the dream. He writes for both television and film, and his upcoming movie projects include Fanboys, the live-action Jetsons movie, and They Came from Upstairs. Cinematical spoke with the incredibly busy Goldberg about his scripts, his process, and Goonies: The Musical.

Cinematical: You said you were being "enslaved by a director," what are you working on? And should I call the authorities?

Adam F. Goldberg: Perhaps call them for my hacky writing! It's called They Came From Upstairs for Fox. It's a family movie, kinda like Gremlins -- but with aliens. The spec was written by Mark Burton and was sold for like $1.7 mil. I believe I am making about .0001212 of that. It's been a really cool project. The movie was in pre-production and the studio realized the script wasn't ready and shut it down pretty late in the game. I came aboard to get the train back on the tracks which is always high pressure and very difficult to do. I handed in 40 pages and they re-greenlit the movie and we're casting and location scouting now. I'm on draft two currently, working next to the director and bringing his vision into it.

Cinematical: Is that an awkward process at all -- being brought in to re-write a fellow writer? Do you ever run into hurt feelings or bruised egos? I guess the $1.7 million makes the pill easier to swallow.

AFG: Well, I come from the TV world, writing on sitcoms and that's very collaborative. You have to sit in the room and watch 10 other writers tear apart your script right in front of you. That bruises your ego. As for movies, more often than not a writer can only go so far and it's your job to bat clean up. It's never a great feeling to have your screenplay rewritten, but hopefully you've moved onto your next project, so it doesn't sting so much. And believe me, that $1.7 payday is like winning the lottery. I hope I can sell a spec one day. I've had little luck in that department.

Once a filmmaker becomes established enough to make big-time (and mega-profitable) blockbusters, his next move is to set up a production shingle and ghost-produce a bunch of horror movies. It seems to work pretty well for Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, so why not Bryan Singer too? Yep, the director of The Usual Suspects, Superman Returns and the only two X-Men movies worth a damn is on board as a producer on Michael Doughtery's Trick 'r Treat -- which I do believe just got bumped out of its October release slot and stuck on a shelf somewhere. (This will mark Mr. Dougherty's first time behind the director's chair, although he did write Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, so let's hope he learned a few lessons on that one.)

So with no release date in sight, now seems the perfect time to release a trailer. And here it is. And while you all know I'm a little biased where the fright flicks are concerned, I'll just go ahead and toss out an opinion anyway: The trailer looks pretty slick. The WB release boasts a pretty solid cast for a basic horror flick: On board are no less than Anna Paquin, Dylan Baker, Leslie Bibb and Brian Cox ... in addition to a bunch of photogenic newcomers I know nothing about. The promo clip is kind of all over the place, but the IMDb indicates that we're looking at sort of an anthology piece in which four separate stories interweave during one hellacious Halloween eve. Sounds like fun to me. Too bad Warner took away its release date.

UPDATE: The new-yet-reliable horror site known as ShockTillYouDrop.com informs us that the release date change was nothing more than a rumor. Word is that Trick 'r Treat will still open on October 5. (Check out our previous reports on this flick here and here.)

While it's pretty old news that Bryan Singer has signed on to produce Trick r''Treat for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. through his own Bad Hat Harry Productions, some new cast announcements in Variety have made the film a mini X-Men reunion.

Michael Dougherty, who was a writing partner on Superman Returns and X2 wrote the script and will direct. The plot revolves around a small town one Halloween night, and will throw a bunch of interconnected stories at us, including one that involves a high-school principal-turned-serial killer. Singer must have liked what he saw in Dougherty's script because he not only signed on to produce, but plans on being present on set throughout production. The reunions don't stop there though -- Anna Paquin (Rogue) and Brian Cox (William Stryker) from the first two X-Men films have signed on to star. Leslie Bibb and Dylan Baker round out the rest of the cast thus far

This is Dougherty's first time directing a film, which might explain Singer's close involvement. Singer is also currently busy with the Superman sequel and the upcoming You Want Me To Kill Him? for 2007. Trick 'r Treat has already started filming in Vancouver but a release date has not been set -- gee, a horror movie about Halloween? I wonder what date they will choose to release it?

[via Movie Web]

If you read only one interview with Superman Returns screenwriters Dan Harris & Michael Dougherty this year, it simply must be this one from Mike Russell over at In Focus. The very lengthy and exceedingly thorough article has done more to get me psyched for Clark Kent's return than all the trailers and TV spots combined. Despite the fact that these talented little bastards are younger than me, they've already written flicks like Imaginary Heroes, Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, and X2: X-Men United. Plus they also have brand-new adaptations of Ender's Game and Logan's Run in the pipeline, which makes me hate/admire them that much more.

Regarding Superman Returns, the fellas dole out a whole lot of backstage info, while also taking care to avoid spoilers (which is an approach I always appreciate). Topics of conversation include the return of Marlon Brando, their baby's "place" in the Superman movie canon, and former SuperContributors like Max Fleischer, Richard Donner, John Williams, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, and a whole lot more.

Plus the guys have some really ... diplomatic things to say about Superman 3 and Superman 4, whereas I'd just call 'em plain old crap.

[Thanks, Mike]