BLUE BEETLE Director Says He Wanted to Create "Cronenberg for Kids"
When I first watched the trailer for DC’s Blue Beetle and saw Jaime Reyes’ crazy transformation into Blue Beetle, I immediately noticed the David Cronenberg-type body horror. I explained it as being like family-friendly body horror, and this is something that director Angel Manuel Soto was actually going for.
During a recent interview with Variety, Soto talked about being inspired by films such as Mission: Impossible and Indiana Jones, but he also looked to Cronenberg for Jaime’s transformation into the blue exoskeleton and when talking about that he said:
“How can we do [David] Cronenberg for kids? I wanted the energy to be fun but also tell the story about the movies that made me love movies.”
Cronenberg for kids! I love that! The fact that he was inspired by Cronenberg when making this movie might get other people excited to see it. Soto is completely invested in telling more Blue Beetle stories, and he and the creative team are proud of what they did with this first film, and they hope to continue it. The director shared in a previous interview:
"Our first movie, the way we wanted to do it, was always with the mentality that we wanted to do two more, at least, and taking the traditional three-act structure of a story, we wanted our first movie to practically be the first act of a saga.
"We are part of the universe, we are part of the world, we are part of the plans that they have been creating for the future instalments of the DCU. But we are not tied to all the films from the past. Yes, our movie lives in the world where superheroes exist. But that doesn't mean that a certain event, or certain alliance, or certain things from the past dictate where our film is going."
James Gunn has confirmed that Blue Beetle is the "first DCU character." Then In a previous interview with the film’s star Xolo Maridueña (Cobra Kai), he said he eventually wants to see the character rolled into “the Justice League shit.”
"If we get one movie or a trilogy and f**king fold this into the Justice League sh*t, we're ready for the whole nine. For me and Angel [Manuel Soto, director] and the team, we kicked ass with this movie. It just depends on numbers."
The story for the movie centers on Jaime Reyes, the alter ego of the Blue Beetle, a vigilante who has a scarab grafted onto his spine that gives him tremendous powers and the ability to emit blue energy. Here’s the synopsis:
Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero BLUE BEETLE.
Blue Beetle also stars Bruna Marquezine as Penny, the female lead and love interest; Belissa Escobedo as Jamie’s younger sister, Milagros; as well as Harvey Guillén; and Susan Sarandon as the villain Victoria Kord.
The movie is set to be released only in theaters on August 18, 2023.