Variety returns in-person for its annual Entertainment & Technology Summit, presented by City National Bank. This one-day event will explore advancing technology’s impact on TV, film, gaming, music, digital media and consumer brands.
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00:00Peter, we're so thrilled to have you.
00:02Thrilled to be here.
00:03Peter is, and they're not a sponsor, so I can say this, Peter's such a good guy and
00:07a really great executive, and you have been at DC how long now?
00:10We're coming up on two years.
00:11It'll be two years in November.
00:14Very exciting.
00:15I think there was a lot of reinvigoration with this story brand, and a lot of plans
00:19you guys had, a lot of big promises, like really crazy stuff, like not dating a movie
00:24until your script was done.
00:26Yes.
00:27Crazy, crazy kind of ideological shifts in Hollywood.
00:31But I want to just start from now.
00:33I think that you guys have had the two years to dig in, do your development, and we're
00:37starting to see the fruits of your labor come up in different ways, and specifically relevant
00:42to this audience.
00:43I think that you guys have really done an incredible job figuring out where your content
00:48needs to travel and what platforms, which ties directly into Ent and Tech.
00:52Yeah.
00:53I mean, for us, when we took the job, a lot of people were talking about superhero fatigue,
01:00and for us it was never superhero fatigue, it was mediocre movie fatigue.
01:04We felt that the bar for theatrical release was higher than it had ever been, and that
01:09your film really had to be genuinely empathetic, genuine comedy, had to be a commentary on
01:16the human condition.
01:18If you had those things, then your film could truly work.
01:22For us, our job at DC Studios is to really develop stories to tell for a worldwide audience,
01:35and to deliver great DC storytelling in every genre, on every platform, and at every scale.
01:44Because we have an 80-plus year iconic legacy of storytelling, we're really in a position
01:53to do exactly that, and to deliver that diverse slate.
01:58I also think, too, that there's a new sense of optimism whenever new creative leadership
02:02comes in, attached to fandoms that can sometimes be viewed as way too hard to please, occasionally
02:08toxic.
02:09Not you guys, Marvel, of course, no kidding.
02:13There's a new sense of optimism in just how you find new people, where you reach them,
02:18and what the audience looks like.
02:20I don't know if anyone's seen Penguin, the HBO series, but incredible.
02:23It's set in the world of a mob drama.
02:26It is.
02:28As I said, superhero is not really a genre.
02:31There's every genre within that.
02:34We want to tell stories in all those areas.
02:36You'll have giant tentpole superhero movies like Superman, but you'll also have indie-style
02:42horror movies like Clayface.
02:44You'll have immersive gaming experiences.
02:48You'll have animation for family and for kids.
02:51You will have every form out there for people to experience.
02:56Our goal is to bring it to you in every visual medium.
02:59Absolutely.
03:01Your company, or your film unit, is structured very interestingly, where you and James Gunn,
03:05who's a noted feature director, are both CEOs.
03:09How's division of labor going?
03:10I know he's been on set.
03:11You just wrapped your first new rebooted Superman.
03:15Tell me how division of labor goes.
03:18It's interesting.
03:19We took the job two years ago.
03:21In that entire period of time, I don't think James and I have ever had to ask each other,
03:26is this a James thing or is this a Peter thing?
03:28We just very organically understand where our lanes are.
03:32They overlap frequently, but we really do have specific lanes.
03:38The great part of it is we each think that we have the better job.
03:42I love what I do, and he adores what he does.
03:45His job changes more than mine on a day-to-day basis, because if he's off directing Superman,
03:51or right now he's in post on Superman, but also directing season two of Peacemaker at
03:57the same time, he's got a different set of availabilities than I do.
04:03It's really been incredibly organic.
04:05When Zasloff originally came to us about the job, we knew that it was something that required
04:13two people.
04:14It needed a creative visionary like James, and it needed somebody that really could execute
04:19on the vision on a day-to-day basis, and that's really me.
04:22Do you give James notes?
04:24All the time.
04:25James is one of those great filmmakers who loves to get feedback and ideas from everywhere.
04:33He is truly a best-idea-wins guy, so it is incredible to work with him, because no matter
04:39who it is, he wants the feedback.
04:41Everybody's the audience, and he wants the audience opinion.
04:46Another thing in the tech world of it all, I know that superhero movies have become just
04:50an odyssey of blue screen, and James loves to shoot practically.
04:54How are you finding that going in terms of your budget and in terms of the scale of your
04:57ambition?
04:59Well, James is somebody that has always been pretty committed to getting as much in-camera
05:05as possible.
05:07As it relates to Superman, we definitely traveled the world.
05:11We pushed filmmaking technology to its limits in order to get as much action and special
05:16effects in-camera.
05:18We worked, obviously, very closely with our special effects team, with the action stunt
05:23folks.
05:26I think that he finds a perfect way to blend that with the essential nature, because we
05:31can't minimize what our friends at Framestore, ILM, and Weta do for us.
05:39There's a combination of those things that can really root you in the reality, make it
05:43visceral, make it exciting, and really help audiences soar with Superman when it comes
05:48out next summer.
05:50Now tell us every single thing about Superman, like I said.
05:53So fade in, Metropolis, small office desk.
06:00The truth is, we really do want to preserve the story for the fans and for the audience.
06:06But what I can tell you is, we wrapped a couple of months ago, we're deep in post now, it
06:14of course is looking great.
06:19Without giving away the story, I can say that it is a story that is rooted in love and in
06:27compassion and in the essential goodness of the human spirit.
06:31There's a lot of hope in there, which is a real hallmark of Superman in general.
06:36But all of that is wrapped in that kind of genre-bending, crowd-pleasing, four-quadrant
06:43theatrical experience that James is so great at delivering, as everybody here, I'm sure
06:48a lot of you have seen at least one, if not all, of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
06:52But he has that beautiful blend of humor, empathy, genuine emotion, and great action.
07:00So that's where we are with it, and it's a very exciting time.
07:04We were incredibly fortunate to find David Cornsweat, who is our Superman.
07:10We were incredibly fortunate that he was born 30 years ago and that he was available to
07:14us, because I don't know what we would do without him.
07:17He's perfect, perfect for the role, and I think everybody, when they see the film, will
07:21realize that he is Superman.
07:24Big shoes to fill.
07:26Speaking of Superman, I think that one of the biggest stories that will come out of
07:31this year, or at least in terms of your malleability and how far you can stretch your brand, was
07:36the acquisition of this Christopher Reeve doc out of Sundance.
07:39I just want to say, I know a lot of people who bid for that movie that wanted to pay
07:44a lot more money than you guys.
07:46They didn't have maybe a theatrical component to offer you, but you still won the day.
07:49Can you talk about that process and why it was important?
07:54We all saw the movie at the same time, when it premiered at Sundance.
07:57I think it was a Sunday morning.
07:59Would you mind just telling us what it's about really quickly?
08:04So Superman, it's called Super slash Man, the Christopher Reeve story.
08:09It is a documentary directed by wonderful filmmakers, Ian Bonote and Peter Otegi out
08:15of the UK.
08:18And it is Christopher Reeve's story, both before the accident, when he got the role
08:24of Superman, during the period that he was Superman, through the accident, and then beyond
08:30with his paralysis as he segued into a champion for human rights.
08:37And they were able to get this incredible footage that his family had, these home movies
08:44that nobody had ever seen before.
08:46And so it's really about Christopher and Dana Reeve and the idea of what is it to be a hero?
08:52What does it really mean to be a hero?
08:55And a lot of it's in Christopher's own words and in Dana's own words, and their three children
09:01who are all in their 40s and 50s now.
09:05And it's a beautiful, emotional ride.
09:08It's 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's 100% on the audience reaction, and it got an A-plus
09:16cinema score.
09:17We did previews with Fathom Events, the 21st and then last night, and then it opens wide
09:23on October 11th.
09:25But it's just beautiful and it's filled with hope.
09:28And the reason that we bid so hard on it, and we said nobody else could release this,
09:32is it speaks to our legacy at DC.
09:35It speaks to what we want to do.
09:37It talks about the importance of heroes.
09:40And one of the primary jobs for James and myself when we took the reins was to reestablish
09:46the trust of the audience.
09:47It'd been a somewhat uneven offering from DC over the prior decade.
09:53Some great stuff and some not so good stuff.
09:56But for us, it was about reestablishing that link with the audience where they could trust
10:01when they saw the DC logo that it was going to be really quality programming.
10:06And so as we sit here today with The Penguin is on screens and it's a wonderful, wonderful
10:13show.
10:14Superman, the Christopher Reeve story out in theaters, Joker's coming up in October.
10:21We have James' adult animated series called Creature Commandos, which is spectacular,
10:26comes out in December on Max.
10:29And then, of course, Superman's in post-production.
10:33Peacemaker season two is being shot.
10:35We're prepping Supergirl.
10:36But all of this stuff, it speaks to the quality of what we want to do.
10:42And I think that it's great to have Penguin and Superman, the Christopher Reeve story
10:47being the first two pieces of content out there with our new logo on it.
10:52And we're thrilled that we acquired it.
10:55It's been incredible working with these filmmakers and the Reeve children.
11:00And it really is everything that DC is about today.
11:03I just, last thing on the doc, I wonder if, did you guys experience any pushback?
11:08Because usually a documentary, and I don't know if anyone's seen the trailer, it's intensely
11:11emotional.
11:13But usually films of this sort of subject matter tend to go into more highbrow, deadly
11:17serious kind of labels.
11:19And I wonder putting a DC logo on it might have, you know.
11:24We hope it brings it to a broader audience than it would otherwise have gotten to.
11:28It is certainly an incredibly emotional ride.
11:31But people come out of there feeling good and filled with hope.
11:35And ultimately, it's incredibly uplifting despite the circumstances of the events.
11:42So we just felt that by having it distributed by DC, we could bring it to a far larger audience.
11:48And I think the filmmakers understood that maybe that combination of a somewhat artistic
11:53documentary combined with DC could bring it out to a worldwide audience in a way that
12:00they hadn't really conceived.
12:01Sure.
12:02You know, the slate you just mentioned, obviously, it's varied in format, series of features,
12:09animation.
12:10Where is the room that it happens where you decide what stories are right for what formats?
12:15How many people does it go through?
12:17What's that process like?
12:18I mean, I suppose it's changed slightly, it's evolved.
12:23When we first took the job, James and I sat with five writers and writer directors that
12:29are kind of a creative coalition of people that we'd all worked closely with over the
12:34years.
12:35And we sat with them and we sat for two solid days with two giant whiteboards and we talked
12:39about every character that we were interested in.
12:42We talked about stories we were interested in.
12:44But most importantly, the starting point for any of our projects is the why.
12:49Why would we want to make it?
12:50What is the theme we wanted to explore?
12:53What's the arena we wanted to explore?
12:55What are the emotions that we wanted to bring out?
12:57And then we would figure out how to wrap the right property around it.
13:02So early on, we had announced kind of the initial part of our slate of gods and monsters.
13:08And it was kind of James and myself and our group and our wonderful executives at DC Studios.
13:14Since then, we've been very flexible in terms of understanding, here's an arena that we
13:20want to explore, so let's go do that.
13:22Or there's something going on in the world that makes us want to explore heroism in armed
13:28conflict.
13:29Great.
13:30How do we do that?
13:31You know what?
13:32We wrap it around Sergeant Rock.
13:33So we've been very flexible and able to pivot.
13:39And listen, part of it is also, if we want to deliver DC stories to the biggest possible
13:46diverse global audience, we need to create a slate that speaks to their tastes and appetites
13:53around the world of every age.
13:56And so we consider that.
13:58And so we think about, do we have, you know, big tentpole movies, but do we also have things
14:03that speak to a younger audience?
14:05Do we have things that speak to teen audiences?
14:07And again, it's all driven by that why.
14:11Like do we, if we want to, again, it goes to the idea that superhero is not a genre,
14:15but we can tell a great love story wrapped in a DC package, or a great war story, or
14:22a great action movie, or a great comedy.
14:26But we listen to the audience.
14:27You know, James is, I'm sure a lot of people here realize this, James is very engaged with
14:33the audience.
14:34We hear what they have to say.
14:35And you know, we're able to pivot if they express a real interest in a particular world
14:40or a particular character.
14:43You know, just, I mean, to draw something from my other life, you know, when we made
14:48Conjuring 2, we, there was a character in there called the Crooked Man that we were
14:52sure was going to be the spinoff character the same way that Annabelle was the spinoff
14:57from the first Conjuring movie.
14:58But when we screened the movie, we saw that the audience wanted to know more about the
15:03nun.
15:04And this was a character we had added in a one day reshoot in post-production.
15:09And that character was what the audience wanted to understand.
15:11What was her origin?
15:12What was she about?
15:13And, you know, two movies and $650 million later at the box office, it was exactly the
15:19right decision to make.
15:20So we definitely listen when people talk to us.
15:24Seriously.
15:25And also everyone just tweet James right now.
15:26Yes.
15:27Very online.
15:28I'm glad you brought up Conjuring because obviously you had a much, huge career as a
15:36producer in a different life and now you've got this corporate job, which is also still
15:40very creative.
15:41If I could say though, the great thing about this job and what made it worthwhile for James
15:46and myself is it's not just a corporate job.
15:48We get to produce everything in house predominantly.
15:52So we didn't have to give up that side of it that was so fun.
15:55We get to be on set every day on Superman or on set with Peacemaker or Supergirl in
16:01London at Leavesden.
16:02So that was a really important element of it was not to just be on the corporate side
16:06of it, but also be able to be really deep on the creative.
16:11And forgive me, we at Variety don't believe that corporate is a four letter word.
16:13So what I meant was obviously you're part of this big machinery now that has a lot of
16:17resources.
16:18But I'm curious, you as a producer who's obviously been in the game for a long time, how has
16:21your life changed being a DC Films executive to people like send you mail, begging for
16:25this character, a kid at the checkout?
16:29I avoid social media entirely because I'm very thin skinned and I can't handle the toxicity
16:34of it at all.
16:36James, on the other hand, also thin skinned, but relishes that interaction with the audience.
16:42And so I think what's changed the most is there really is a magnifying glass on you
16:49at all times when people are fanatical about what we do.
16:54We have this 80 year history of storytelling.
16:58We have the greatest array of superheroes and supervillains that have paved the way
17:06and broken the mold for what superheroes and villains can be.
17:10And so people grew up with these characters.
17:13People grew up with these stories and they really, really care.
17:17And I had started to get a sense of that just through the first superhero movie I produced
17:22was Aquaman and then it was Shazam and then Suicide Squad.
17:25But the idea that these people care so firmly about it is something that we're careful.
17:32We can't take anything lightly.
17:34There's no decision we can make that will not be debated.
17:37Whether Superman has his trunks or no trunks is a giant federal issue as far as the fans
17:44are concerned.
17:45And they're right.
17:46They should care this much.
17:47Did you go with trunks or no trunks?
17:48We went with trunks.
17:49Trunks.
17:50That's it.
17:51Ladies and gentlemen, the incredible Peter Safran.
17:53Thank you so much.
17:54Seriously.