The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
April 8, 2019/ 45 min/ Sean Fennessey · Miles Surrey
Miles Surrey stops by to break down Shazam! and where it leaves the DCEU, then Sean sits down with director David Sandberg on jumping from a viral YouTube short to Annabelle: Creation to superhero previs with action figures.
10 films across 2 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Shazam! and the DCEU's new approachwith Miles Surrey
Miles Surrey's read: an Amblin-style, wish-fulfillment coming-of-age story for its first half (kid discovers powers, buys beer, tries to become a YouTube star), before the back half settles into the standard CG-monster fight with Mark Strong's seven deadly sins.
The comparison point for tonal missteps: charming and well made right up until it also turns into a fight against a demon monster, played by David Thewlis.
"Operatically goofy," and mostly table-setting for a sequel and a Trench spinoff that never quite arrived.
The DCEU's cautionary tale: a rushed, interconnected tentpole that bombed critically and financially and pushed the studio toward standalone stories instead.
Coming that October, tonally standalone from Shazam! and made for a fraction of the budget, which lowers the risk if it doesn't land.
Cathy Yan's five-superhero team-up built around Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, visually nothing like Shazam! or Joker.
In conversation
The two-and-a-half-minute, no-budget short he and his wife Lotta made in Gothenburg went viral on YouTube and got him signed within a day; it became the basis for his feature debut.
His actual first studio film, with about triple the budget of Lights Out. He softened Annabelle's doll design mid-production because it read as too obviously evil for a kid to bring home.
He inherited a script that was originally "Shazam versus Black Adam" and helped pare it down; previs for the big effects sequences was often just Sandberg filming himself acting out scenes with action figures.
His pick for the last great thing he'd seen: "very long and slow, but I really liked it. And it was so brutal."
Also mentioned raised along the way
Also part of the DCEU conversation Batman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeBlack AdamSuicide SquadThe FlashThe Batman
David's reference points and passing mentions Terminator 2: Judgment DayWar of the WorldsThe Girl in the Spider's WebWater for Elephants
Coming up on the show Her SmellGuardians of the GalaxyCaptain America: The First AvengerThe Avengers
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV ChuckDexterThe OfficeGame of ThronesKilling EveBillionsThe Walking DeadLive PDSpongeBob SquarePantsPaw Patrol
Ads PhiloRecappables (podcast cross-promo)