The Greatest Superhero Movie Never Made

The "fan film" Grayson has been around since 2004. Since its debut, I have seen many online film productions; Thanks to sites like YouTube and Ifilm new "product" is being created and churned out every single day. With very few exceptions though, none of them, have had quite the success that this 6 minute flick has had...




From Grayson's Wikipedia entry:

The project began when John Fiorella was searching, along with his director of photography Gabriel Sabloff, for a suitable subject for a demo reel that would showcase their filmmaking abilities. When Fiorella raised the idea of a film about Robin, Sabloff was skeptical at first, but soon convinced. The objective of Fiorella was to "tell a new and exciting story about the former boy wonder that leaves audiences wanting more" and let the viewer be the judge to decide if he hit the mark.

With a budget of $18,000 the filmmakers created a five-and-a-half minute trailer complete with motorcycle chases, underwater escapes, pyrotechnics and feats of strength. Most of the production budget went to 16mm film stock, production equipment, processing and transfers, leaving little for anything else. According to the behind the scenes video of Grayson, their budget didn't allow for daily film transfers, so the filmmakers only saw developed footage in batches every three months. The two employed guerrilla filmmaking tactics, filming mainly on weekends and at whatever locations they could find, often without permission.

After the publicity generated by the film's online release at TheForce.Net and subsequent showings at the San Diego Comic Con, DC Comics announced that there were to be no more fan made films to be shown at conventions. Any persons found displaying fan films depicting any of their characters would be contacted by their legal department.

The film, which plays out like a theatrical trailer, won several awards such as the Universal Studios Judges Award 2005 and is the recipient of praise from comic book legends including Neal Adams, Jim Lee and Alex Ross.

The original screenplay for the full-length version of the movie is available for download at the official Untamed Cinema website.



As many times as I have watched Grayson--it never gets old. The full script would make an awesome feature. Of course, given the current status (and success) of the Batman film franchise, the storyline for Grayson would be difficult to work in...That said, you never know down the road. I would pay to see the full version on the big screen...The fanboy in me, goes all geeky, every time I see Green Lantern using his power ring for that split second. Or when Superman and Dick Grayson face off at the beach...Great stuff.

Given all of the attention the short has gotten in the last 3 years, and how well made it is, I am surprised that the team behind this hasn't been scooped up by one of the major studios yet...