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| The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Jon Schnepp |
| Written by | Jon Schnepp |
| Produced by | Holly Payne |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Carl Millard King |
| Edited by | Marie Jamora Jon Schnepp |
| Music by | Frederick William Scott |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? is a 2015 Americandocumentary film written and directed byJon Schnepp and produced by Holly Payne. It chronicles the behind-the-scenes events surrounding the cancelledTim Burton filmSuperman Lives.[1] Funding for the documentary was partially raised through a successfulKickstarter campaign.[2] It premiered on May 1, 2015 and was released throughvideo on demand on July 9 the same year. While still available for purchase digitally, physical media releases are out of print following Schnepp’s passing in 2018.
The documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at the 1996–98 pre-production ofSuperman Lives, an intendedreboot of theSuperman film series based on the 1992DC comicThe Death of Superman, that was cancelled only three weeks before filming was set to begin in April 1998. In the film, Schnepp interviews several people involved with the development of the project and features numerous conceptual artwork and designs intended for the visual look ofSuperman Lives.
Tim Burton was planned to direct the film andJon Peters would produce it.Nicolas Cage was to star asSuperman whileChristopher Walken was rumoured to playBrainiac. Casting choices considered forLois Lane wereCourteney Cox andSandra Bullock, although Peters stated that he wanted Bullock to play the character. Characters such asLex Luthor andDoomsday were also planned to be included in the film.
According to writerKevin Smith, Jon Peters did not want Superman to fly or wear his red and blue costume, and he wanted Superman to fight a giant spider for the finale.[3] When Peters was questioned in an interview about it, he initially denied the claims, saying they were false, but later said that the giant spider finale was true and would have been an amazing sequence.[4] Peters also stated that he wanted to make a Superman movie that had not been done before, and had chosen Nicolas Cage as Superman because he did not want someone "pink" and someone "for the street".[citation needed]
Peters would go on to produceWild Wild West, which featured a giant mechanical spider in its finale.
DirectorJon Schnepp interviews the following subjects in the film:
Critical reception forThe Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? has been generally positive.[5] The film holds an 79% rating onRotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews, with an average of 7/10.[6][7]Forbes andThe Hollywood Reporter both wrote positive reviews,[8] andThe Hollywood Reporter commented that "fanboys will relish this overstuffed doc about the Superman movie that never hit the screen".[9]IGN awarded it a score of 8 out of 10 saying: "But even if you come out of the documentary thankful the plug was pulled, the personalities involved and the story's [sic] they tell are worthwhile and offer some great insight into just what a struggle it can be when so many people try to work together to pull off a film of this scope".[10]