Superman
You'll believe a man can fly.
Superman (1978)
Budget
$55 000 000
Revenue
$300 218 018
Director
Scenario
Mario Puzo
Author
Composer
Producer
Pierre Spengler
Actors
Christopher Reeve
Superman / Clark Kent
Margot Kidder
Lois Lane
Gene Hackman
Lex Luthor
Marlon Brando
Jor-El
Ned Beatty
Otis
Jackie Cooper
Perry White
Glenn Ford
Pa Kent
Trevor Howard
1st Elder
Short description
The planet Krypton faces destruction, and scientist Jor-El sends his infant son Kal-El to Earth to save him. Found and raised by the farming couple Kent, the boy grows up as Clark Kent and discovers extraordinary powers under Earth's atmosphere. As an adult he works as a reporter at the Daily Planet in Metropolis, where he falls for his colleague Lois Lane, who only has eyes for the flying hero Superman. When the scheming Lex Luthor sets a plan in motion that threatens the whole world, Superman is the one who can stop him.
Richard Donner directed this 1978 science fiction adventure, the second of the eighteen films he directed in chronological order, following The Omen and preceding The Toy. Christopher Reeve plays the title role opposite Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, with Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, Marlon Brando as Jor-El, Ned Beatty as Otis and Jackie Cooper as Perry White. The screenplay is credited to Mario Puzo, Tom Mankiewicz and David Newman, and Pierre Spengler produced. The production involved 94 credited cast members and 248 credited crew.
Made for a budget of 55 million US dollars, the film returned around 300 million worldwide, a strong multiple of its cost. On IMDb it holds 7.4 out of 10 from over 184,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 out of 10 from more than 4,400 votes. A film critics' rating of 8.1 out of 10 across 77 reviews places critical appraisal markedly higher than the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Steven Spielberg could have headed the project, but the producers couldn't agree on the director's fee. The film's production team then decided to wait and return to negotiations after the release of Steven's "fish movie" (Jaws). As we remember, the film became a huge hit, and Steven preferred to work on other projects.
- Guy Hamilton could have directed the film (the filmmaker signed a corresponding contract). However, when it turned out that part of the filming would take place in England, Guy had to leave the project. As a tax exile, Guy was allowed to stay in England for no more than 30 days a year.
- Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Charles Bronson, Patrick Wayne, Warren Beatty, Burt Reynolds, and even Clint Eastwood could have played the main role in the film. Ultimately, the decision was made to cast relatively unknown actor Christopher Reeve. Before the start of filming, the actor had only one film and a television series credit to his name. Interestingly, a similar approach was used in 2005, when newcomer Brandon Routh was approved for the role of Superman.
- Considering that Christopher Reeve was unknown to moviegoers, the list of lead actors in the film's trailers began with Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman, and only after these big names did Reeve's surname appear on the screen.
- Anne Archer, Leslie Ann Warren, Deborah Raffin, Susan Blakely, and Stockard Channing could have played the role of Lois Lane.
- Before filming began, Christopher Reeve underwent a special muscle-building course under the guidance of David Prowse, the actor who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. The actor's progress in this area was so noticeable that Richard Donner had to reshoot some scenes that had been worked on at the very beginning of the production process – Christopher had changed too much during that time.
- Marlon Brando appears on screen for only 10 minutes. Nevertheless, the actor received the largest fee of all the project participants – $4 million.
- The cost of creating the opening credits exceeded the budgets of many films being made at the time. In turn, the length of the credits at the end of the film was over 7 minutes, thereby setting a new record for their duration.
- Clark Kent's and Superman's hair are combed in different directions.
- Christopher Reeve had to voice all of Jeff East's lines, who played the role of young Clark Kent.
- Much of the material for the 'Superman' sequel was filmed simultaneously with the original film. Shortly before the filming of the sequel was completed, director Richard Donner was fired, and Richard Lester replaced him, who deemed it necessary to reshoot much of the material.
- Richard Donner invited Jerry Goldsmith as the film's composer, and the composer accepted the invitation. However, during the film's production, Jerry was forced to leave the project and was replaced by John Williams. Six years later, Goldsmith finally had the opportunity to work on the soundtrack for one of the franchise's films – "Supergirl."
- 18 cinematographers were involved in the making of the film.
- In one scene, young Clark Kent kicks a football and sends it into Earth orbit. To film this scene, a special air cannon was placed underground, and the football was launched from it.
- July 13, 1977, went down in US history as one of the most frightening nights. On that night, New York City experienced a massive power outage, causing the city $300 million in damages. That terrible night, the city plunged into complete chaos – mass brawls, arson, looters ransacked stores, and police shot at passersby were all recorded on the streets. The "Superman" film crew was also working on the streets of New York on that crazy night.
- The idea of putting the "S" symbol (like Superman's) on Joe-El's clothing belonged to Marlon Brando.
- In a documentary dedicated to the filming of "Superman", Richard Donner recalls: "Upon receiving the first information about the future project, I immediately tried to put it down on paper. All I had on hand was a stack of business cards, and I wrote this information on the back of one of them." The documentary also shows this business card, which has become a historical artifact. A close examination of these notes reveals the name Nick Nolte as one of the potential participants in the project.
- Released in 1978, the film achieved the status of the highest-grossing film for Warner Bros. (300 million dollars worldwide).
- Initially, Marlon Brando proposed not appearing on screen, offering only his voice to portray a certain image in the form of a levitating green donut. It is unknown whether Brando was joking, but the producers immediately rejected this proposal.
- In the first version of the script, Lex Luthor had two assistants – Otis and Albert. The character of Albert was later removed.
- The scene of Superman and Lois's flight was originally intended to depict the couple flying around the Earth, but it was later decided to keep the main characters within the city limits.
- Gene Hackman was extremely reluctant to part with his mustache for the role of Lex Luthor. Interestingly, on the very first posters for the film, his mustache is still in place. Richard Donner had long telephone conversations with Hackman (without seeing each other) and eventually persuaded the actor to shave his mustache on the condition that he himself would undergo the same procedure. Later, Gene learned that Richard Donner did not wear a mustache.
- The restored version from 2000 has a runtime of 151 minutes.
- Richard Donner managed to shoot a number of scenes that did not make it into the final version of the sequel, including the most famous one – a dialogue between Jor-El (Marlon Brando) and Kal-El (in which Jor-El talks about his desire to commit suicide to save his son). In addition, a scene was filmed in which Lois Lane tries to verify whether Clark Kent is Superman by shooting at him with blanks.
- The scene in which Jor-El explains to Superman why he must keep his true identity a secret was removed from the theatrical release of the film, but was included in the director's cut.
- In all four films dedicated to Superman, the endings use shots of Superman flying into space, filmed during the production of the first film.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
