Filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto says the DC fighting video game “Injustice” and the animated series “Young Justice” both had influences on the upcoming “Blue Beetle” movie – just as much as the comic source material.
Speaking with The Playlist, Soto says the final battle in the film is framed like a fight from the “Injustice” games with Soto adding there’s a “couple of combos” from the game in there.
That’s not the only influence that impacts the film. Soto hired “Hereditary” director Ari Aster regulars cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski and composer Bobby Krlic for the film, aiming for people “that had different sensibilities” than most films of this genre.
In Krlic’s case, they aimed for a wholly different sound to the movies with Soto saying: ” I was definitely looking for a sound that was not expected of a superhero movie. We wanted to hone into the nostalgia of a vapor wave aesthetic and homage to the Tangerine Dream soundtracks we grew up with.”
In a separate interview with Total Film, he says DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran gave them full creative freedom over Blue Beetle’s story as they were happy with how it was going;
“The studio always, generally, has their hands on it. As far as the essence of the story, [James Gunn and Peter Safran] liked what we were doing and they respected the vision and what we were trying to do with the film. They really did appreciate the fresh take, the nostalgic factor of how we start the film by taking the audience to see the family and fall in love with them for a prologue-of-sorts.”
The film stars Xolo Maridueña, Susan Sarandon (Monarch), Harvey Guillén, Adriana Barraza, George Lopez, Bruna Marquezine, Raoul Max Trujillo, Elpidia Carrillo, Gabriella Ortiz and Damián Alcázar.
“Blue Beetle” hits cinemas on August 18th.
