Latest news with #DavidGoyer
Forbes
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
David S. Goyer Says He And Christopher Nolan Continue To Collaborate (Just Unofficially)
David S. Goyer— who co-wrote the scripts for The Dark Knight trilogy with Christopher Nolan — said he and his fellow filmmaker to this day float their work by each other even though they haven't officially collaborated on a film in over a decade. Goyer — who is executive producing the new Apple TV+ sci-fi action comedy Murderbot — first collaborated with Nolan when the two filmmakers co-wrote the script for Batman Begins in 2005. After that, Goyer, Christopher Nolan and his brother, Jonathan Nolan (Fallout), co-wrote the scripts for 2008's The Dark Knight and 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. In addition, Goyer wrote the screenplay — based on his and Christopher Nolan's story — for director Zack Snyder's 2011 Superman movie Man of Steel; and co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Terrio for Snyder's 2016 sequel Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which Nolan executive produced. So, while it's been 14 years since Goyer and Nolan wrote a film together, Goyer said in a recent Zoom conversation to discuss Murderbot that he and his fellow creative not only keep in touch as friends, they also keep each other informed on the current projects they're working on. 'Chris has sent early drafts of [screenplays of] some of his movies or brought me to early screenings and asked for my input,' Goyer said. 'We have another project that we've been working on together that hasn't been made yet that I'm still hoping for,' Goyer added with a smile. "He doesn't develop a lot of things but this is one of the few. I can't say what it is, but I'm hoping he'll decide he's ready to do it.' Now streaming on Apple TV+, Murderbot stars Alexander Skarsgård as a cyborg in the future who self-hacks its own governing module to become self-aware. Resisting its natural urge to kill the 'stupid f---ing humans' he is assigned to protect, Muderbot — as the cyborg calls itself — eventually takes a liking to the expedition group's members, including Gurathin (David Dastmalchian), an augmented human and tech expert with the crew. Dastmalchian's breakthrough role in showbiz came in 2008's The Dark Knight in a small but pivotal scene the Joker's (Heath Ledger) demented henchman, Thomas Schiff. Taken into custody following an assassination attempt on Gotham Mayor (Nestor Carbonell) during the funeral of Police Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb (Colin McFarlane), District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) threatens to shoot Schiff until Batman (Christian Bale) intervenes. David S. Goyer said during our Zoom conversation that he was on set for Dastmalchian's key scene in The Dark Knight and has tracked his career ever since. Following The Dark Knight, Dastmalchian appeared in nearly 100 screen roles in such films as Marvel's Ant-Man trilogy, director James Gunn's The Suicide Squad and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, as well as the 2024 indie horror hit Late Night with the Devil. David Dastmalchian in "Murderbot." Apple TV+ 'When I went to the set to visit the filming of Murderbot— it was a scene from the last episode that I won't reveal between David and Alexander — David was very excited because we hadn't talked [while he was working on The Dark Knight] Goyer said he's very excited for viewers to see Dastmalchian in Murderbot because it shows his tremendous range as an actor. 'David often plays the heavy or the psycho and Murderbot shows another side of him in the relationship between the two characters he and Alexander play in this show, which I think is really lovely,' Goyer enthused. Based on Martha Wells' best-selling book series The Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot continues with the release of Episode 4 this Friday on Apple TV+, with six more episodes scheduled to debut every Friday through July 11. Also on July 11, the third season of the sci-fi series Foundation — which Goyer co-created with Josh Friedman — premieres on Apple TV+. In addition, another Goyer co-creation — the fantasy series The Sandman – returns for its second and final season on Netflix with six episodes on July 3 and six more episodes on July 24.
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Murderbot' EP David S. Goyer On Alexander Skarsgård And Staying True To Martha Wells' Books
Alexander Skarsgård in "Murderbot." Although he's been a well-respected writer, producer and director in Hollywood for decades, Murderbot executive producer David S. Goyer admits that not every project is an easy sell in the entertainment business. In fact, Goyer was challenged for years in bringing his new sci-fi action comedy Murderbot, to life, but he saw his passion for the material through to bring viewers one of the most unique sci-fi series to hit any visual medium in recent memory. Goyer has had a huge presence in Hollywood for the past 35 years. On film, his screenwriting credits include critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller Dark City, Marvel's Blade trilogy (of which he directed Blade: Trinity), Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy and Zack Snyder's Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The filmmaker, however, is just as prolific with his TV work, as the developer and co-creator of Netflix's The Sandman series and co-creator of Apple TV+'s Foundation, and serving as a writer and producer on both shows — and directing three episodes of the latter. Goyer serves as an executive producer on Murderbot and was instrumental in securing the rights to author Martha Wells' book series The Murderbot Diaries. Murderbot arrived on Apple TV+ on May 16 with two-episode premiere and Episode 3 will debut on the streamer on Friday. Created by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz, Murderbot stars Alexander Skarsgård in the title role as a cyborg who self-hacks his own governing module to become self-aware. Assigned to protect a group of explorers, Murderbot — as the security unit dubs himself — must resist the urge to kill his human counterparts by containing the secret that he's operating under his own free will. Despite his homicidal tendencies, Murderbot also finds the explorers endearing, which becomes helpful as he tries to figure out his place in the universe. Murderbot also stars Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones and Tamara Podemski. David S. Goyer on the set of "Murderbot." While Goyer is thrilled that Murderbot is finally available to the masses, he said he had to dig in his heels to traverse the long and bumpy road on the way to finding a studio to produce the series. 'My producing partner, Keith Levine, and I read a lot of science fiction, a lot of times just for leisure, but when I read Martha's first Murderbot novella seven years ago or so, I immediately fell in love with it,' Goyer told me in a recent Zoom conversation. 'We reached out to her, and she very graciously gave us an option and a shopping agreement.' However, as Goyer soon found out, shopping the series was filled with a lot of roadblocks, with executives simply not getting what Murderbot was all about. 'No one was interested. They were like, 'This is just RoboCop' and we were like, 'No, it's not at all. It's the anti-RoboCop,'' Goyer recalled. 'It's about neurodivergence. It's about humanity.' Goyer said that during the time he and Levine were trying to sell Murderbot as a series, it won the prestigious Hugo and Nebula Awards, which attracted the attention of a company that wanted to make it a feature film. All seemed to finally be going Goyer and Levine's way until another roadblock popped up — and it was a huge one. The company they working with went bankrupt, but thankfully, they hadn't signed the deal yet. Goyer said he was working on Foundation on Apple TV+ when the stars finally aligned. He said the Weitz brothers fell in love with a pitch for Murderbot and agreed to join the project and create the show through a deal they had with Paramount Television Studios. Andrew Miano, Paul Weitz, Alexander Skarsgard, Chris Weitz, Keith Levine, David S. Goyer at Apple ... More TV+'s "Murderbot" Series Premiere held at Regal Union Square on April 28, 2025 in New York, New York. (Photo by Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images) Murderbot is no question a huge departure for Alexander Skarsgård, who has been winning acclaim for years thanks to his dramatic work in such series as True Blood, Big Little Lies and Succession, as well as films including The Northman and Infinity Pool. And while Murderbot is a blend of sci-fi with action and suspense, comedy is at the heart of the series. Luckily, David Goyer said, Skarsgård got that sensibility about the character immediately. 'A lot of very good actors auditioned [for the role], but they were just taking it too seriously,' Goyer recalled. 'Alexander didn't audition — he was an offer— but we had a number of conversations first and he was really eager. He immediately realized the kind of opportunity [the role presented], that you love because he's crotchety and weird and super on the spectrum and blurts out things. That's why you love him.' One thing that Goyer discovered working with Skarsgård was that he's just as funny off-screen as he is on-screen. 'He's funny in real life and also just a really lovely guy,' Goyer observed. 'He's very self-deprecating.' David S. Goyer said it was important that Murderbot maintained the tone of the book to ensure the fans of the series would be happy, beginning with fan No. 1: Martha Wells. Even though Wells worked closely with Goyer and company during the making of Murderbot, Goyer said that all would be for naught if she didn't like the completed project. Fortunately, she did and then some. 'Just as a fan [of The Murderbot Diaries] it would be terrible to screw it up,' Goyer said. 'One of the things that I felt good about working on this was that it was really important to Paul and Chris [Weitz] that Martha be heard and happy, and it was important to myself and Keith as well.' As such, Goyer said, Wells 'was involved every step of the way.' 'She read all the scripts and came up to the set for shooting,' Goyer recalled. 'Apple was great because sometimes when we were talking about marketing or publicity, we [were able to express our] thoughts about whether or not that's what Martha would want. Ultimately, Goyer added, Wells 'fell in love with Murderbot and now Apple's fallen in love with it, too.' 'You can't just detach the creator,' Goyer said. 'It would have broken our hearts if Martha weren't happy.' While Murderbot is not quite in the rearview mirror for Goyer— he's naturally hoping for a Season 2 because there are many more stories to be told via Wells' book series — the writer-producer-director is keeping himself busy with two more big projects in 2025: The Sandman will return for its second and final season with six episodes on July 3 and six more episodes on July 24; while Foundation Season 3 arrives on AppleTV+ on July 11 with the first of 10 episodes. With such a full schedule, it begs the question, "How does Goyer do it?" 'I'm very organized. If you saw my calendar, it's 'Work on this project from 9:30 to 10 :30, do this from this to this to this' — I'm very regimented," Goyer said with a smile. Murderbot begins streaming on Apple TV+ Friday with a two-episode premiere, with new episodes premiering weekly through July 11. Note: Some quotes in this interview feature were condensed or edited for clarity.
Forbes
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
What Time Does Alexander Skarsgård's Murderbot Premiere On Streaming?
"Murderbot" partial poster featuring Alexander Skarsgård. Murderbot — a new sci-fi series starring Alexander Skarsgård in the title role — premieres on streaming this week. Created by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz and executive produced by David S. Goyer, Murderbot is an AppleTV+ original series consisting of 10 episodes. The official summary for the series reads, 'Based on Martha Wells' bestselling Hugo and Nebula Award-winning book series The Murderbot Diaries, Murderbot is a sci-fi thriller/comedy about a self-hacking security construct who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients. 'Played by Skarsgård, Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe.' Murderbot also stars Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones and Tamara Podemski. The first two episodes of Murderbot will arrive on AppleTV+ on Friday, May 16, at 12:01 PT/3:01 ET. After that, a new episode of the series will premiere every Friday at the same time through July 11. You must be a subscriber to AppleTV+ to watch Murderbot on the streaming service. AppleTV+ offers one ad-free tier, which costs $9.99 per month after a seven-day free trial. As of this publication, Murderbot has received a 98% 'fresh' rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics based on 40 reviews. The RT Critics Consensus for the series reads, 'Alexander Skarsgård's superbly dry wit brings a lot of heart to Murderbot, making for a refreshingly jaunty sci-fi saga about finally coming out of one's shell.' Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone is among the top critics on RT who give the series a 'fresh' rating, writing, 'Murderbot isn't an exact recreation of the books — and it's too irreverent to be the kind of thing Murderbot would enjoy — but it's very fun and satisfying as its own thing.' The series also earned a 'fresh' rating from Nina Metz of The Chicago Tribune, who writes on RT, 'Self-awareness means Murderbot has developed squishy qualities, like feelings. One of those feelings is the desire for self-determination ... paving the way for a new story in the series' next inevitable season.' Also lauding Murderbot on RT is Lili Loofbourow of The Washington Post, who writes, It's a decidedly silly show, but one in which Skarsgard, who so brilliantly plays sociopathic men, portrays a disdainful but soft-eyed killing machine with a lot of anxious 'humanity.'' Eric Deggans of NPR also gives the series a 'fresh' review on RT, writing, 'Murderbot is the latest example of a trend I've noticed on streaming TV — exquisitely produced science fiction and fantasy shows that may not be seen outside of a small-yet-passionate fanbase.' As of this publication, there is only one 'rotten' review from RT's group of top critics, which comes from Slant Magazine's Steven Nguyen Scaife. In his review on RT, Nguyen Scaife writes, 'The rogue security cyborg at the center of the series is less a vengeful killer than a quiet quitter.' Murderbot begins streaming Friday at 12:01 a.m. PT/3:01 ET with a two-episode premiere on AppleTV+.
Geek Tyrant
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
David S. Goyer on the MCU's BLADE Reboot Delay: 'What in the World Is Going On?' — GeekTyrant
It's not just fans scratching their heads over Marvel's ongoing Blade reboot delays and issues, David S. Goyer, the filmmaker who originally helped bring Blade to life on the big screen, is just as confused. In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Goyer, who wrote all three of the original Blade films and directed Blade: Trinity , questioned the delay and even offered his help if Marvel needs it. 'I would. I've always loved the character and I love him. I've been sitting on the sidelines wondering, 'What in the world is going on? Why is it taking so long?' Because I'm a huge Marvel fan myself, and I've just been totally puzzled.' Goyer's comments echoes what a lot of fans have been feeling since the reboot starring Mahershala Ali was announced back in 2019. Since then, the project has been plagued with delays, a revolving door of writers, and shifting creative directions. The most recent draft reportedly came from Eric Pearson, making him the sixth writer after Michael Green, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Beau DeMayo, and Nic Pizzolatto. That script was said to have 'finally satisfied everyone involved,' but there's still no movement. In fact, reports now suggest that Blade has been placed on indefinite hold. That tracks with recent comments from DJ and filmmaker Flying Lotus, who shared on X that he had signed on to compose the film's score, only for the project to stall. So what's the holdup? Word is, it's less about the script and more about Marvel's current priorities. With Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars looming, it seems the studio is laser-focused on The Multiversal Saga storytelling, leaving Blade to the side… for now. Sources also say Wesley Snipes' appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine was met with such enthusiasm that Marvel may be reworking Blade as a multiverse movie and could feature both Mahershala Ali and Wesley Snipes sharing the screen. Despite the uncertainty, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has tried to assure fans that Blade hasn't been forgotten. He said: 'We are committed to Blade. We love the character. We love Mahershala's take on him. And rest assured: whenever we change direction with a project, or are still figuring out how it fits into our schedule, we let the audience know. 'You're all up to date on what's happening. But I can tell you that the character will indeed make it to the MCU." Hopefully sooner rather than later, but as of right now, the Daywalker is clearly fighting off development hell instead of vampires.
Digital Trends
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
One of the best sci-fi TV shows on Apple TV+ now has a release date
No streamer puts out more quality sci-fi TV shows than Apple TV+. This summer marks the arrival of Foundation season 3, a sci-fi series based on Isaac Asimov's award-winning stories. The streamer unveiled the first teaser and release date for season 3, which continues the show's propensity for expansive world-building and stunning visuals. 'War is upon us,' Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) says in the teaser. Set 152 years after the second season, season 3 picks up with a diminished Cleonic Dynasty and a more established Foundation. The two powers must align in their fight against The Mule (Pilou Asbæk), a ruthless warlord who plans to rule the universe through force and mind control. With so many moving pieces, Apple TV+ describes the upcoming season as a 'deadly game of intergalactic chess.' Season 3's returning cast includes Harris as Hari Seldon, Lee Pace as Brother Day, Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick, Cassian Bilton as Brother Dawn, Terrence Mann as Brother Dusk, Laura Birn as Demerzel, Leah Harvey as Salvor Hardin, and Rowena King as Kalle. Season 3's new additions are Asbæk, Cherry Jones, Brandon P. Bell, Synnøve Karlsen, Cody Fern, Tómas Lemarquis, Alexander Siddig, and Academy Award winner Troy Kotsur. Foundation stems from executive producer David S. Goyer, a screenwriter best known for his work in two trilogies: Blade and The Dark Knight. Skydance Television produces Foundation for Apple. Foundation is one of many popular sci-fi TV shows on Apple TV+. Severance is currently the most-watched show on Apple TV+ and one of the frontrunners to win in the dramatic categories at the 2025 Emmys. Silo, For All Mankind, Dark Matter, Invasion, and See are all sci-fi Apple shows that have aired multiple seasons. Foundation season 3 premieres with one episode on Friday, July 11, on Apple TV+. New episodes will be released weekly every Friday through September 12.
