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I finally got around to watching Jon Schnepp's The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? documentary on what happened to the film "Superman Lives".
The doomed film would have been directed by Tim Burton and starred Nicolas Cage.
The documentary cover the three scripts and treatments, showing some evolution of the story... from Doomsday to Brainiac to a Giant Spider. In addition to seeing all lost pre-production artwork and concept artworks, Schnepp also took the extra step of trying to re-create some scenes from the script with actors. This recreations really made the documentary work for me, as sometime it's boring to just watch creators sit and just talk.
The first part of the documentary examined the first draft(s) by Kevin Smith. Smith's point of view was that it was all producer Jon Peters' fault. According to Smith, Peters had three criteria: (1) no flying, (2) no costumes, and (3) he had to fight a giant spider. Peters, from his view, said that Smith was basically an amateur writer whose script lacked structure and excitement.
Wesley Strick's script was light-hearted, and Burton felt it was not in a direction he wanted and the third script went to Dan Gilroy. Schnepp talked to all three writers, but I felt the real highlight was the costume designer Colleen Atwood. I am assuming she provided much of the amazing footage of the test costume fitting. Also various concept artists were all pretty amazing, from Mobius-esque artist Sylvain Despretz to Derek Thompson to Jim Carson.
With all the concept artworks and pre-production work (including the costume fitting and various sculptures) that went into creating Superman Lives, it was hard to believe that the film was never realized.
Drawing my own conclusion, I felt everyone in the documentary blamed producer Jon Peters. The way he's painted, he just didn't understand Superman or his comic book origins. Although not spoken out loud, all the creators had a slight resentment towards Peters, who is described as "loud" and conflictive.
Ultimately the studio, Warner Brothers, was the blame. They pulled the plug in the final hours (three weeks before filming), because most of the funds were going to Wild Wild West. Some of the ideas for Superman Lives (particularly the Brainiac Spider) was used in the Will Smith film.
Although, as expected, Schnepp did not have access to actor Nicolas Cage, but surprisingly he was granted an interview with Tim Burton. While I felt Burton's commentary was underused in the documentary (and they really overuse Kevin Smith, who, let's be honest, had very little to do with the rest of the film), it was still very impressive that Schnepp got Burton at all!
Personally, I would have love to hear Cage's point of view on the disaster of Superman Lives. Maybe hear him nerd out, since we know Cage love comic books, having taken his name from Luke Cage, owning an impressive comic book collection (including Action Comics #1, before it was stolen), created/wrote the comic book Voodoo Child, and starred as Ghost Rider.
Some off topic: While I think it's clever as The Death of "Superman Lives", I don't like the extra "What Happened?" added to the title. I also really dislike the special edition cover artwork with a ball bursting through a wall with random photos (and that spider!). Sure, it's extra bits and nods to the hardcore fans, but the "regular edition" artwork of Schnepp resurrecting Nicolas Cage is just a better cover artwork. Perhaps they could have also included the regular cover, also by artist Nick Runge, as a reversible option.
The Bluray/DVD had plenty of special features (Director's commentary), deleted scenes, and full interviews with Grant Morrison, Kevin Smith, etc. I have not had a chance to check out all the featurettes, and to be honest, I probably won't ever watch them... However, I really appreciate the work put into making these special features for the fans. The eight hour plus features can be purchased as a bundle for $16.99. The feature is available for purchase now at tdoslwh.com.
The documentary cover the three scripts and treatments, showing some evolution of the story... from Doomsday to Brainiac to a Giant Spider. In addition to seeing all lost pre-production artwork and concept artworks, Schnepp also took the extra step of trying to re-create some scenes from the script with actors. This recreations really made the documentary work for me, as sometime it's boring to just watch creators sit and just talk.
The first part of the documentary examined the first draft(s) by Kevin Smith. Smith's point of view was that it was all producer Jon Peters' fault. According to Smith, Peters had three criteria: (1) no flying, (2) no costumes, and (3) he had to fight a giant spider. Peters, from his view, said that Smith was basically an amateur writer whose script lacked structure and excitement.
Wesley Strick's script was light-hearted, and Burton felt it was not in a direction he wanted and the third script went to Dan Gilroy. Schnepp talked to all three writers, but I felt the real highlight was the costume designer Colleen Atwood. I am assuming she provided much of the amazing footage of the test costume fitting. Also various concept artists were all pretty amazing, from Mobius-esque artist Sylvain Despretz to Derek Thompson to Jim Carson.
With all the concept artworks and pre-production work (including the costume fitting and various sculptures) that went into creating Superman Lives, it was hard to believe that the film was never realized.
Drawing my own conclusion, I felt everyone in the documentary blamed producer Jon Peters. The way he's painted, he just didn't understand Superman or his comic book origins. Although not spoken out loud, all the creators had a slight resentment towards Peters, who is described as "loud" and conflictive.
Ultimately the studio, Warner Brothers, was the blame. They pulled the plug in the final hours (three weeks before filming), because most of the funds were going to Wild Wild West. Some of the ideas for Superman Lives (particularly the Brainiac Spider) was used in the Will Smith film.
Although, as expected, Schnepp did not have access to actor Nicolas Cage, but surprisingly he was granted an interview with Tim Burton. While I felt Burton's commentary was underused in the documentary (and they really overuse Kevin Smith, who, let's be honest, had very little to do with the rest of the film), it was still very impressive that Schnepp got Burton at all!
Personally, I would have love to hear Cage's point of view on the disaster of Superman Lives. Maybe hear him nerd out, since we know Cage love comic books, having taken his name from Luke Cage, owning an impressive comic book collection (including Action Comics #1, before it was stolen), created/wrote the comic book Voodoo Child, and starred as Ghost Rider.
Artwork by Nick Runge
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The Bluray/DVD had plenty of special features (Director's commentary), deleted scenes, and full interviews with Grant Morrison, Kevin Smith, etc. I have not had a chance to check out all the featurettes, and to be honest, I probably won't ever watch them... However, I really appreciate the work put into making these special features for the fans. The eight hour plus features can be purchased as a bundle for $16.99. The feature is available for purchase now at tdoslwh.com.
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The Death of "Superman Lives": Colleen Atwood, Nicolas Cage and Tim Burton |
PS During his interview, Jon Peters took a minute to take a phone call and the whole one-sided phone conversation was kept in the documentary. I'm not sure why Schnepp left this in (personally, I would have edited this out), but perhaps it was to show you that Peters was the "Hollywood-type" always talking on the phone and making things happen...
UPDATE: According to the commentary, Schnepp wanted to show that Peters was always working. Plus it served as a nice break. I still stand behind that it was totally unnecessary and should have been taken out.
