What Happened?: 10 Things We Learned from The Death of “Superman Lives”’ Q&A
Photo of red carpet c/o Imeh Akpanudosen / Getty Images
Superman fanboys (and -girls) crowded into the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night for the premiere of the documentary, The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? The film’s writer-director Jon Schnepp, a self-proclaimed comic book nerd and best known as a writer and producer of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse, was a little punchy as he introduced the film. His delirium made sense when he told the audience that—in true indie film fashion—he had been up all night fixing the audio and rendering the film. The version of his film the audience was about to see, he explained, was “99 percent there.”
The Death of “Superman Lives” traces the origins of one of the more high-profile, big budget projects to never see the light of day. After the success of Batman and Batman Returns, director Tim Burton was tapped in 1998 to reimagine the Superman franchise with Superman Lives. Nicolas Cage—hot off the success of Con Air and Face/Off—would play the titular role. Remember: Cage had turned in an Oscar-winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas in 1996; plus Burton’s Batman—Michael “Birdman” Keaton—was also initially criticized by diehard fans who worried about “Mr. Mom” playing the Caped Crusader.
The film spotlights big studios’ bureaucracy and development hell through numerous interviews with key players from the Superman Lives project, including Burton; writers Kevin Smith and Dan Gilroy; producers Jon Peters and Lorenzo diBonaventura; costume designer Colleen Atwood; and numerous artists who worked during the film’s pre-production. Cage, however, declined to be interviewed. Which is a shame, because Cage is depicted as a serious comic book fan (he named his son Kal-El after all) who wanted to work with Burton to bring a new and interesting spin to the George Reeves and Christopher Reeve models.
A number of surprises and memorable moments occurred at the film’s screening, as well as during the Q&A that followed with Schnepp and his producing partner Holly Payne. Here are 10 of our favorites:
1. A writing triumvirate
Three Hollywood heavy-hitters were hired to write a draft of—or make revisions to—the Superman Lives script: Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma), Wesley Strick (Cape Fear, Final Analysis) and Dan Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy, Nightcrawler).
2. Superman 75
The film would have been based on the DC comics’ Superman 75 (1993). Written by Dan Jurgens and illustrated by Brett Breeding, The Death of Superman, Vol. 2 had the Man of Steel battling and ultimately dying at the hands of the villain Doomsday. The film would have also featured Superman’s arch-nemeses Lex Luthor and Brainiac.
3. Jon Peters had a thing for spiders
