Richard Donner’s Superman II
The Man of Steel’s second live-action adventure of 2006 has been nearly 30 years in the making
The Holy Grail of Superman history will be unveiled this fall with the DVD release of Richard Donner’s version of Superman II. Here’s a quick history lesson to put that statement in perspective: Back in the 1970s, Donner was shooting Superman: The Movie simultaneously with its sequel, but to meet the first film’s December 1978 release date, he focused on that effort, leaving the second incomplete. Donner’s acrimonious relationship with the film’s producers resulted in his being replaced by Richard Lester, who completed the sequel, jettisoning much of Donner’s footage and reshooting certain sequences to reflect his own directorial sensibilities.
Overseeing the film’s DVD version, and working in conjunction with Donner himself, is producer/editor Michael Thau, who also oversaw the production of the Superman : The Movie DVD.
MOVIE MAGIC: How much of Superman II had Dick Donner shot?
MICHAEL THAU: Dick shot almost exactly 75% of his Superman II script. In November of last year, we brought over six tons of Superman II film that had been sitting in a vault in England. We started laboriously going through it, pulling together scenes that were going to be the hardest to cut. When I’d get a cut on a scene, I’d show it to Dick and he’d say, "I don’t like that line; that reading’s not good" and so on. With Dick it’s always, "Make it move faster."
MOVIE MAGIC: I’d read an interview with him in which he said certain scenes were lost, such as when Lois tries to prove that Clark is Superman by firing a gun at him.
MICHAEL: Nothing was lost. That scene was actually never shot, but he did shoot it back in early 1977 as part of screentests, one for Reeve, and another, three months later, for Margot Kidder. We managed to put together a scene that has Chris from the early screentest and Margot from the later screentest.
MOVIE MAGIC: I assume you’re using Lester footage to finish the other 25% of the film?
MICHAEL: Yes, but it’s less than 25%. The plot is essentially the same, but the tone is much more like a part two of the first film. Donner’s humor is completely different from Lester’s. I’m not saying that Lester’s stuff is not funny, but it’s a different type of humor. Our intent was to make things more real and not keep undercutting the tension with comedy.
MOVIE MAGIC: The real question, of course, is whether or not you’ll restoring scenes with Marlon Brando as Jor-El, which were cut from Lester’s version over money issues between the producers and Brando.
MICHAEL: That issue is being addressed and negotiations are continuing, I will, however, say there are three scenes with Marlon Brando that absolutely anchor this film. They’re insane, wonderful Superman scenes, and that footage has not been seen by anyone for 25 years. Actually, there’s a lot that hasn’t been seen, but that’s the crown jewel of this film.
MOVIE MAGIC: It sounds like this Superman II is going to be entirely different than the first version of it.
MICHAEL: The people who have seen it have said it truly feels like part two of the first film, which was the intent all along. I think there are going to be some wonderful surprises for everyone.