Fan Review: The Death of Superman Lives: What happened?
Fan Review: The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?
The independently produced and distributed documentary by TV and film director Jon Schnepp takes a look at the failed 1998 attempt by Director Tim Burton and producer Jon Peters to make a Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage. I was way back in high school when I first heard about this film possibly being made and was excited to hear about Tim Burton’s involvement as I was and am a fan of his great body of work. Tim Burton the man who not only brought us the magnificent Michael Keaton as Batman but gems like Beetlejuice, Ed Wood, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.
Now I do recall even back then having my doubts about a Nic Cage led Superman movie and not because I wasn’t a fan of his work. I mean the guy has won an Oscar for Pete’s sake so he definitely has the acting chops. I just wasn’t sure that he was the right fir for the Superman that I knew and loved which is what a lot of fan boys tend to do. We each take certain characters we’ve loved through the years and envision him or her in a particular way and when Hollywood ultimately comes around wanting to adapt a certain property (and they will sooner or later) their ideas on the casting, writing and directing of said property will in most cases inevitably clash with what our own individual notions and ideas are on what the adaptation could and should look like.
Jon Schnepp interviews many of those involved in the making of the film from its inception to its eventual downfall due to circumstances that were in part unrelated to the film itself. Great indie filmmaker Kevin Smith was one of the first writers brought on to write a draft of Superman Lives and he tells some great and funny stories about what he went through in the making of the film. His Superman was not to fly or have the iconic suit and Jon Peters wanted a giant man eating spider or “Thanagarian Thunder beast” to play adversary to Superman and he wanted Polar Bears involved somehow. Oddly enough Polar Bears are seen in 2013’s Man of Steel as well as giant mechanical spider like creature with tentacles battling Superman in a pivotal scene in that film which Jon Peters also served on as a producer.
Some of the other themes and concepts never fully realized in Burton’s vision of Superman seemed to plant the seeds for later incarnations of the character with the exploration of Superman as the other or as not fitting into earth culture ultimately making him a very lonely and in some ways tragic character. Bryan Singer (at least to many) unsuccessfully tried to illustrate this aspect of the character in his much maligned film Superman Returns. I happened to like his take on the character myself but know that I am in the vast minority. Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel also touched upon this theme and knocked it out of the park in painting Superman as the ultimate outsider and which he will delve further into with the upcoming Batman V Superman.
Burton’s Superman would have taken a much grittier approach in tone and even looked to make the character more of a darker figure with more of an edge than previous depictions of the character. The film would have been based in part upon the Death of Superman storyline from the comics and eventual resurrection. Burton’s version would have featured an artificially intelligent assistant named K that would have served as his protector and healer upon his death at the hands of Doomsady.
Nic Cage is seen in archival test footage of him trying on the various Superman costumes that were designed for the film and some of the ideas were pretty far out and cool while others not so much. There was a lot of cool concept art featured in the documentary of Brainiac and a giant Skull Ship…a Skull Ship people that would have looked really cool.
Some other interesting tid bits from the film include possible casting choices for Lois Lane; Sandra Bullock was a name mentioned which I think would have been an awesome choice also Christopher Walken as freaking Brainiac! I would love to see that now in the current DC cinematic universe (make that happen WB.) Burton and crew had a lot of really cool ideas and concepts that may or may not have ultimately turned out to be a pretty awesome film.
My gut tells me that Superman Lives may not have been all that well received by fans because this would have been a very (at least to some) extreme departure from what had ever been attempted with the character before. Man of Steel did touch upon some of the themes and concepts that Burton had wanted to explore with his film and for some Snyder’s depiction of Superman was not how they wanted “their” last son of Krypton to be portrayed on film. Even though MOS was much darker in tone than previous films his incarnation of the character was pretty true to the way the character has been portrayed in the comics and in films prior as a morally upstanding defender of life and justice.
You don’t even have to be a fan of the comic book genre or of Superman to appreciate this film. This a documentary for film buffs who are interested in taking a peek at how the sausage is made so to speak. It’s fascinating to see how many years and millions of dollars Hollywood film studios spend on films that ultimately do not even get made. It was really fascinating to me.
There are a lot of great little gems and stories in this film that I won’t reveal here because many of you may have yet to see the film and if you haven’t then I suggest that you go out and do so. You can go to www.tdoslwh.com and order the DVD or Blu-ray or download it digitally. Now only will you be supporting great filmmaking but independent filmmaking. This documentary was supported in part by fans pitching in funds via Kickstarter. This film is available now check it out gang.
