In the wake of director George Miller’s blistering return to the big screen with the spectacular Mad Max: Fury Road, a documentary aiming to explore the story behind Miller’s cancelled Justice League movie – Justice League: Mortal – has been announced.

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Australian director Ryan Unicomb, who announced the project via Inside Film , has procured the assistance of film writer and author Maria Lewis to help assemble the documentary. Unicomb plans to interview cast and crew and arrange access to see never-before-seen artwork and costumes, but notes they are yet to approach Miller and his long-time producing partner Doug Mitchell.Unicomb explained the project would be in the “same vein” as the likes of the 2013 documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune (which uncovered director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unsuccessful attempt to adapt and film Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction novel Dune back in the ’70s) and this year’s The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? (a Kickstarter-funded documentary exploring Nicolas Cage and Tim Burton’s unproduced movie Superman Lives). Miller’s Justice League Mortal , the documentary’s working title, has investors aboard but Unicomb may also look at running a crowdfunding campaign.Back in 2007 Warner Bros. secured the services of George Miller to direct a Justice League film, one which would exist alongside Christopher Nolan’s Batman films at the time. Filming was scheduled to take place in Australia and a cast was signed up (including Armie Hammer as Batman, DJ Cotrona as Superman, Adam Brody as The Flash, Common as Green Lantern, Teresa Palmer as Talia Al Ghul, Zoe Kazan as Iris Allen, Mad Max: Fury Road’s Megan Gale and Hugh Keays-Byrne as Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter respectively, and Jay Baruchel as villain Maxwell Lord).Unfortunately a combination of factors ultimately crippled the project. The 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike put the film on hold and the Australian government subsequently denied Warner Bros. the 40 percent tax rebate it was expecting, prompting the production to move to Canada. After the immense success of The Dark Knight in 2008, and with production delays for Justice League: Mortal ongoing, Warner Bros. decided to focus on individual films like Green Lantern and Man of Steel and scuttled Miller’s take on the Justice League.A presumably very different pair of Justice League movies will finally arrive on the big screen following director Zack Snyder’s 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Justice League Part One is slated for a 2017 release and Justice League Part Two will arrive in 2019. Both will be helmed by Snyder.

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