Behind the scenes of picking Snyder for Superman, plus a plot?

The big story of the week is that from a laundry list of great directors, Chris Nolan and Warner Bros picked 300 and WATCHMEN’s Zack Snyder to head up the new project. Most of us think that’s a pretty damn good decisions, but Vulture did some digging, and found out that the selection process wasn’t all roses.

We’re told by knowledgeable insiders the reason Warner Bros. picked Snyder for Man of Steel is that the script by David Goyer was rushed, is still a bit of a mess, and that Warner Bros. needs someone who won’t spend months or even years trying to get it just right (i.e., Aronofsky), because time is the one thing they don’t have: The studio must have a new Superman movie in production by 2011 or they’ll be subject to potential lawsuits by the heirs of the superhero’s creators.

We’re told that Snyder was not really Warner’s first choice to direct Superman, but that a director needed to be hired imminently. Privately, even Snyder has confided to agency sources that the current Superman script needs work, but clearly Warner Bros. believes he can get it done faster than Aronofsky.

Aronofsky, who we’ve just learned is jumping camps to talk to Fox and Marvel about reuniting with Hugh Jackman to helm the WOLVERINE sequel, which would be an equally ambitious project, give how shitty the first one was.

Vulture also casually mentions the alleged plot of the SUPERMAN reboot, but it’s unclear where exactly they got this info.

Until last weekend, though, Aronofsky was far more interested in directing WB’s original take on Superman — in which Clark Kent is a journalist traveling the world trying to decide if he should, in fact, even become Superman — than doing a sequel like Wolverine 2

Haven’t heard that before about this project, and that sounds pretty Smallville-ish to me, as most of us are pretty sick of origin stories at this point. But it would set the film in a more “realistic” world I suppose, and would solve the problem that even the best tailored Superman costume looks kind of ridiculous on camera in this day and age. Come on, look at that thing! It’s like pajamas.

Your thoughts on all this?