Jay Olivia On Storyboarding ‘Batman v Superman’ & ‘Wonder Woman’

Jay Oliva, director of the new animated DC movie Justice League Dark, was a guest on the recent episode of the Shanlian on Batman podcast, where in addition to discussing his latest film, he shared several interesting tidbits pertaining to his other DC-related work as a storyboard artist for some of the DCEU films, including Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman.

While talking about his work on Batman v Superman, Oliva revealed that the long continuous shot at the end of the Knightmare Batman sequence was his idea:

“I did the Knightmare sequence with future Batman, I did that. Although, it was great because, you know, I just watched it again the other day and that last shot where it’s just one long continuous take where Batman is fighting and he eventually gets taken down, that was something that I had talked to Zack about, about like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if it was like a Children of Men-style like one-shot through it all?’”

Oliva said that when he saw the film, he was happy to see they kept it as one long take, but there were some additions to the scene that were not in his original storyboards, like all of the Darkseid/Apokolips stuff:

“What’s funny is that was a late addition, I think Zack added that after I had done it, because originally it was just supposed to be the Superman kind of bad guys and then Batman was just to get taken over. So, I was as suprised as you guys that the Parademons were in it, but I knew where they were going to lead to.”

Oliva also spoke about working with director Patty Jenkins on Wonder Woman:

“I’ve worked with Patty very extensively on the film, so I think it’s gonna be great. I think it’s gonna be fun. I’m totally jazzed to see it on the big screen.”

After having directed 9 DC animated films (as well as about 10 episodes of Young Justice), Oliva says he would love to get his hands a live-action film:

“That’s definitely something I’ve been looking into, I’ve been trying to do. I mean, I wish if Geoff Johns gave me a call and was like, ‘Hey Jay, you wanna direct one of these DC films?’ I’d be like ‘Sure, give me anything. Hell, I’d do a Booster Gold movie. Just give me anything,’ you know?”

This is just the tip of the iceberg, the interview is full of other great incites into the world of DC film (like Jay came up with the idea for Tao Okamoto’s character in BVS to be called Mercy Graves) and animation (his “white whale” of what he’s aiming for in terms of animation achievement is Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker). If you’re interested in hearing more, I recommend giving the whole interview a listen here.

Wonder Woman hits theaters June 2, 2017. Justice League Dark is available now on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital HD.

Source: Shanlian on Batman