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Late director Richard Donner will always be known as the man who created the superhero movie to triumph over all others. Even after more than 25 years, his 1978Supermanis still hailed as the perfect archetype from which future filmmakers draw inspiration.
In one of his last interviews, the man narrated what it was like to direct that movie. Moreover, he also talked about a bold stunt he pulled off, going against all norms to make it happen. And if anything, that stunt speaks of his dedication to his craft, and how his instincts ended up saving the savior of the world himself.
Richard Donner pulled off a bold stunt to saveSuperman
Richard Donnerhas spent his entire childhood reading theSupermancomics. As a result, when it came to identifying what would depict his story best, he had some ideas. In fact, those were ideas that differed heavily from his scriptwriter.
According to Donner’s interview withThe Telegraph, when producer Ilya Salkind first had the idea of makingSuperman, he gotThe Godfather’s writerMario Puzoon board to pen the story of the Kryptonian superhero. However, when Richard Donner got on board, his vision deviated greatly from that of the legendary scriptwriter.
To him, as he stated, Superman was an all-American embodiment of hope and optimism, whereas, in Puzo’s draft, Clark Kent came off as“camp, a parody, and disrespectful to what Superman was all about”.So he thought of a way to rectify that mistake from the get-go. According to him, he approached his friend and writer Tom Mankiewicz, known for hisJames Bondscripts, to rewrite the script.
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However, the man disagreed. To persuade him further, Donner pulled off a stunt that only people on par with his intellectual stature could even think of. He asked his friend to drive over to his place, and then Richard Donner donned the Superman costume that was sent over to him by the producers and ran to his friend when he got out of the car. He recalled the incident during the interview with great pleasure, noting,
I’m sitting right now in my living room looking right out where I hid behind the fence here and came out as Tom got out of his car.
The interviewer rightfully pointed out that not many would have had the guts to pull off something like that. However, toThe Omendirector, it didn’t seem like a great deal. He stated that with the right amount of motivation and courage, which in his case meant getting high, anybody would have done the same.
Richard Donner spoke of finding Christopher Reeve forSuperman
According to Richard Donner, he wanted a fresh face to embody“the beacon of light and hope”,as he calls the superhero. To him, it seemed like a well-established actor flying about as a superhero would not be believable. So the hunt for Superman began. Thankfully for him, he did not have to wait long as casting director Lynn Stalmaster foundChristopher Reevesoon after.
After watching his performance in an off-Broadway play, and meeting him, the director was convinced he had found the perfect match. In fact, so was Reeve, as Donner recalled,“He was convinced that he could play Superman.”And his conviction gave Richard Donner the added confirmation he needed to cast him for the role.
About the character – about his truth, justice and the American way. He was Superman the moment he said ‘I can do it.
However, the road to that wasn’t easy as Reeve used to be particularly scrawny at the time. But with the help of bodybuilder and actorDavid Prowse, who had just wrapped up his part inStar Warsas Darth Vader, Christopher Reeve built himself up in just six weeks to stand in front of the camera.
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According to Richard Donner, all his efforts were to be faithful to the image of Superman he had in his mind. The image that the public,“especially the kids, would latch onto.”
It seems stupid to say I wanted to save Superman, but from the direction it was going before Tom and I got on, I think we did to a degree save it.
Well, according to the future superhero movie directors, he definitely savedSuperman. From Marvel Studios presidentKevin Feigeto Oscar-winning directorChristopher Nolan, all have confirmed that they were inspired by Richard Donner to conceptualize their superhero movies.
Anushree Banerjee
Articles Published :595
Anushree Banerjee is an Anime Writer at FandomWire with over 550 published articles. She has a post-grad in English and years of experience working with some of the biggest companies on the pop culture, and anime scene, such as, Sportskeeda, Pinkvilla, and MovieWeb. Staying on top of everything anime consumes her days, while bingeing on everything horror, and thriller keeps her up at night. Be it superhero flicks from Marvel and DC, or Shonen, and Seinen, like Bleach, The Apothecary Diaries, and Attack on Titan, she can probably state facts about them faster than she can recite her home address.
