by Edward Gross
After spending considerable time in the Whedonverse and working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Steven S. DeKnight joined the staff of Smallville, where he served as co-executive producer of 66 episodes, including season six’s “Justice,” which brought Clark Kent together with the show’s versions of Green Arrow, the Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman. Considering this past season was his last on the show, it seems like an appropriate way to end – though fans do wonder why he’s departing.
“There’s been a lot of talk about why I’m leaving the show,” he says. “To set the record straight, it has nothing to do with disagreements over where the show is heading or what we’ve been doing. I may not always see eye to eye with Al and Miles, but I’ve always believed Smallville is their creation and their baby to take in any direction they wish. And personally, I think they’ve done a pretty damn good job of it. Were there missteps? Of course there were! Hell, I wrote and directed on of the most craptastic episodes in Smallville history (“Ageless”, thank you). But taken as a whole, I think the pros vastly outweigh the cons.
“The reason I’m leaving is quite simple: my three year contract with Warner Brothers is up,” he continues. “And, frankly, I yearn to be on a network with more than two letters. Okay, I did spend one year of Buffy on UPN, but that hardly counts now, does it? I was also very interested in working on a new show, one that I could actually help shape from the ground up. So after a ton of meetings and a handful of offers, I settled on something completely different: Viva Laughlin, a family drama/murder mystery/musical on CBS. Yeah, that’s right, I said musical, in the Dennis Potter tradition of Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective. It’ll either be a gigantic hit (did I mention executive producer Hugh Jackman is actually in the pilot?) or cancelled after six episodes." [Unfortunately, it was actually after two].
JUSTICE LEAGUE ON FILM: Since you wrote and directed “Justice,” what was its genesis?
STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT: The idea for “Justice” had its humble roots in “Run,” the first Smallville episode I ever wrote when I came on board in Season Four. That’s where we introduced Bart Allen, aka The Flash (or Impulse, as we were forced to refer to him later due to a DC request). We all loved the irreverence the character brought to the show and wanted to bring him back at some point down the road. We had a vague concept of Lex capturing him and putting him in a huge jar. “Flash in a Jar” became our shorthand for the episode, but it was two and a half seasons later before it all came together with the introduction of Green Arrow. Once he was established, our world felt like it had moved closer to the comic book mythos of costumed heroes. From there it was a short leap to not only bringing Bart Allen back, but also Victor Stone and Arthur Curry. And hey -- why not do it all at once and whip up a proto-Justice league?
JUSTICE LEAGUE ON FILM: Would you say there were a lot changes in the episode’s evolution from concept to filming?
STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT: Once we knew we were going to tackle the early formation of the Justice League, I dove in and started trying of come up with a story that would be entertaining, give each hero his moment, and be cost effective. That last requirement proved to be the toughest. One hero is expensive -- five all in the same episode would be astronomical if not handled carefully. My angle was to concentrate on Bart, who I believe Clark had the strongest emotional attachment to based on their interaction in “Run.” My pitch to Al and Miles was pretty simple: Bart returns, Bart gets captured by Lex, then Clark, Green Arrow, Cyborg, and Aquaman have to rescue him in Act Four. That way we can save all the big money for the assault on Luthor Corp. As for changes, there were a lot of little tweaks, but nothing major. We briefly considered Clark going up against a 33.1 krypto freak while trying to rescue Bart, but quickly realized there was just no way to squeeze it in -- or afford it. There was also a brief underwater sequence where we saw Aquaman bust into the facility, but we had to cut it late in production due to budget and time constraints. Overall, however, the script held up surprisingly well all throughout the process.
JUSTICE LEAGUE ON FILM: In the past you and I have discussed how certain ideas have sometimes been diluted before they make their way to the screen, and I’m wondering if that was a problem this time out.
STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT: I’m happy to report that no dilution occurred on this one. Excitement was high across the board, from the studio to the network and all areas in between. There was one scary moment when we were literally a day away from filming and we were still $100,000 short of what we needed to shoot the script as written. Warner Brothers came through just in the nick of time, but if they hadn’t it would have been a very different episode.
JUSTICE LEAGUE ON FILM: How different?
STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT: Well, that fourth act would have been an assault on Lex’s library. And a very brief assault at that.
JUSTICE LEAGUE ON FILM: Overall, what was the experience of directing this episode like?.
STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT: Directing this one was definitely a pressure situation. Not only did I have the awesome responsibility of bringing the beloved Justice League to the small screen, but I was also still smarting from my last directorial effort which I thought, quite honestly, I had done substandard work on. So I really threw my back into “Justice,” knowing I had something to prove (mostly to myself -- I’m by far my biggest critic). Every part of directing “Justice” was a massive, daunting process. The budget was big, the action was big, and the mythos was gigantic. From the start, I knew I wanted to try some out of the ordinary camera work, like the pull back from Aquaman in the mainframe room, or Clark’s rescue of Bart. And much to the credit of Al, Miles, and Ken Horton (our amazing executive producer in charge of post production), everyone was willing to give me the latitude to go for it. Not that everyone was convinced I could pull it off after that exploding baby fiasco (“Ageless”). I’ll never forget the email Al sent me right before I headed up to Vancouver to start prep. Short, sweet, and to the point: “Don’t f*** it up.” But once I got on the set, I could feel something special was happening. The air was charged with excitement over what we were attempting to do. And that excitement continued on through the entire grueling shoot, even when halfway through I caught the mother of all colds and actually lost my voice for the first time in my life. I had to yell “action” and “cut” through a bullhorn so the cast could hear me. But I was still having the time of my life. Hell, it’s the Justice League. They could have wheeled me out on a gurney and I would still have had a smile on my face.
JUSTICE LEAGUE ON FILM: Is there a lot of discussion early on in terms of tweaking DC characters before they appear on the show?
STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT: We always try to stay as true to DC characters as we can when bringing them onto the show. Some tweaking is always involved to make them fit into the world of Smallville, but it’s always done with the blessing of DC Comics. There is no set process, really. We just start kicking ideas around and see what works in the context of Smallville and the DC Universe.
JUSTICE LEAGUE ON FILM: How did Green Arrow come to be on the show and what impact do you think he had on the show and on Clark last year?
STEVE S. DEKNIGHT: At one point we were talking about bringing on either Green Arrow or Green Lantern. Green Lantern was a cool idea, but his power ring would have required massive CGI work, so ultimately it he just wasn’t feasible. Not to say Hal Jordan will never make an appearance, but perhaps it’ll be in his early pilot days before he slides on the ring.
Once we decided on Green Arrow, the jitters set in. Bringing the character to life could have veered into a bad Men In Tights place, but our costume designer put together a brilliant interpretation of his comic book outfit, and I thought it turned out fantastic. As for his character, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow added a much needed counterpoint to Clark’s nascent heroics. Green Arrow continually pushed Clark to see the bigger picture, to look beyond his own backyard. And by the end of season, the two heroes came to respect each others’ point of view. Clark saw his future through the eyes of Green Arrow, and even accepted the idea of being part of a larger hero community.
JUSTICE LEAGUE ON FILM: The chemistry between Justin Hartley and Tom Welling was really amazing, and I had hoped that he would stay onboard. What a great way for A, B stories that would have been the closest Smallville could get to a Superman-Batman relationship. What's your feeling about it?
STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT: Their chemistry was truly amazing, on and off the screen. And yes, we were definitely going for that Batman vibe with Green Arrow. Which, if memory serves, was how Green Arrow was originally conceived, as a Batman-esque type of hero. It would have been great to have Justin stay on, but I believe Green Arrow had served his purpose on the show. To keep him around would have lessoned the impact he made on Clark’s life. But who knows? Maybe he’ll zip into town someday in the future for a return appearance…
really great episode, just watched it now and it put a big smile on my face... thx!
Posted by: jayjay | January 18, 2008 at 02:48 PM