Superman Lives - the weirdest Superman movie never made 0

[Marvelfangirl]

I want to watch the full documentary now.

Me too.

Looks interesting

[Bosco685]

Superman Lives Concept Art Shows Christopher Walken As Braniac

 

 

[Mr 9.8]

Superman Lives Concept Art Shows Christopher Walken As Braniac

 

 

Oh, good god.

[Bosco685]

Review: The Death of Superman Lives - What Happened?

 

Probably the most we know about the project comes from Kevin Smith’s infamous story about producer Jon Peters from his first EVENING WITH…special. Smith re-tells the story here, but Peters himself (filmed separately) is able to provide a rebuttal. While he admits that he had Smith read him the -script and that he wanted a big- spider in there somewhere (which he later got into WILD WILD WEST) he denies that he had problems with Superman wearing the suit and that he didn’t want him to fly. Certainly, he would have worn the suit in Burton’s film and the ILM test footage Schnepp’s gotten shows that Superman would have flew (or rather jumped – kinda) and that the VFX would have been great (for their time).

 

These are only a few of the revelations in Schnepp’s insightful and entertaining doc, which is clearly a must-see both for Superman fans and anyone who likes a good true Hollywood yarn. While the production values are lo-fi due to the fan-backed budget (ranging from the beautifully shot interviews with Smith and Peters, to the more rushed Burton-ones that were likely shot in a small window of time) in the end it doesn’t matter much as there’s so much good information here. While no one can definitively say whether this project would have worked or not, I can’t help but wish Burton and Cage had been able to make their film as it could have been really interesting and might have reignited the franchise years before Bryan Singer and Zack Snyder eventually made their versions. It’s nice that Schnepp was able to set the record straight here and this is pretty fascinating investigation into a film that came within three weeks of shooting.

 

8/10 Stars

 

[Amadeus Arkham]

I just got through watching the film. Jon Peters definitely comes off as a jagoff who likes to revise history when it suits him and definitely sticks to his guns on what he wants. It seems like this would have been an interesting movie for sure, depending on which -script they eventually went with. The first one written by Kevin Smith seems to be the most "comic book" of the three screenplays and is probably the one that would have made the best flick.

 

It was just interesting to see the behind the scenes stuff on how much time, effort, and money it actually takes to get a movie off the ground.

[Bosco685]

Nicolas Cage Reflects On Tim Burton's Superman Lives

 

Yahoo spoke with the Oscar-winning actor and got him to open up about the unmade film.

 

"The only thing I’ll say about that — because that is such a lighting rod hot topic and if I say anything at all it just seems to snowball — but I will say that I had great belief in that movie and in what Tim Burton’s vision was going to be for that movie," Cage told Yahoo. "I would’ve loved to have seen it, but I feel that in many ways, it was sort of a win/win because of the power of the imagination. I think people can actually see the movie in their minds now and imagine it and in many ways that might resonate more deeply than the finished project."

[Mr 9.8]

So, this thing ever coming to netflix? Might be the only way I ever see this.

[Amadeus Arkham]

You could always pay for it.

[Bosco685]

You could always pay for it.

 

[Bosco685]

'Death of Superman Lives' finally made it to cable.

 

[Bosco685]

Wow!

 

1) Jon Peters should be kept far away from any future comic book movies. Unfortunately, he is still involved in some way with Superman (executive producer) and even Sandman (??). He may even still own the film rights to Superman after purchasing these rights from Warner without its knowledge.

 

 

2) This movie was purposely being creatively made by people that had no ties to comic books in any way (much more than any I have heard of before), and even looked down on people that wanted Superman to have anything to do with the comics.

 

3) Doomsday was going to be this huge, lumbering, multi-headed beast that as he fought Superman the face of someone he cared about would appear so as to distract him.

 

4) Jon Peters couldn't stop interfering in the creative process. Even at one point when the news broke of Princess Di's death, he wanted the writing team to have something like this in the movie. Along with the giant spider and attack polar bears.

 

 

5) Warner got gun shy as at the same time this two-year mess was being pulled together, back-to-back movie bombs were being cranked out by the studio that finally forced the executive team to pull back and question what was in its release schedule.

 

This is worth watching. But as you understand better the transitions taking place with the story, you can also get a sense for why it was pulled. There are still some interesting designs and thoughts.

[Bosco685]

SUPERMAN HOME PAGE: Regarding Jon Peters

 

Jon Peters (born John Pagano Peters) is a seventh-grade dropout, a reform school veteran, and a former hairdresser. The latter point is of importance because that's how he got his start. He was Barbra Streisand's hair stylist and live-in lover, and thr[rough] his relationship with her he got his first gigs as a producer (the album ButterFly, the films A Star Is Born and The Main Event). From there he partnered with Peter Guber as co-chairman of Polygram Pictures (which he and Guber bankrupted), a house producer at WB, and eventually running Sony Pictures before returning to WB as a producer.

 

However, in spite or even because of his success, Peters became a bigger jerk as time went on. Notorious for bullying people, he ran roughshod over Frank Pierson on A Star Is Born, denied story credit to John Carpenter on Eyes of Laura Mars, and usurped creative control on The Witches of Eastwick from George Miller. At the beginning of his stint as a Sony exec, Peters physically threatened veteran Hollywood player Dawn Steel when she refused to kowtow to his demands. Bullying, harassing, and mistreating actors is pretty typical for him; the cast of The Witches of Eastwick can attest to that. He's also known for being a ripoff artist; Rob Cohen, a producer who was fleeced by Peters, described Peters as "analyzing every -script based on sex, killing, rock and roll, and what movie was a hit last weekend. That's the Jon Peters view of movies." George Miller echoed this, saying that Peters' "creative" ideas always pivoted around imitating whatever was the big box-office hit of the time; one week he'd want to emulate a Whoopi Goldberg movie, another week he'd want to copy Aliens.

 

Kevin Smith, during his tenure on Superman Lives, brought up that Peters wanted Brainiac to have a cuddly space dog so the film would have its own Chewbacca, and after watching Chasing Amy he thought that Brainiac should have a gay robot sidekick, because he felt the film needed a gay R2-D2. That Peters is pursuing making a Matrix-ized Superman movie actually fits in with his past MO. Also, Peters is infamous for hogging other people's credit; the most prestigious films he's ever made -- The Color Purple, Rain Man, Gorillas In The Mist -- he's had absolutely no involvement with at all beyond slapping his name in the credits. But he goes out of his way to take credit for those films' successes. He didn't have anything to do with Flashdance, and yet he asserted that he was the man who made it what it was.

 

Even the beloved George Miller has no love for this man.

[Chicago Boy]

In demand? or a premium channel??

[MatterEaterLad]

Good, weird, documentary. Ninjas. There were going to be ninjas fighting Superman.

[Bosco685]

In demand? or a premium channel??

 

Showtime on-demand has it available now.

 

Good, weird, documentary. Ninjas. There were going to be ninjas fighting Superman.

 

 

Even the person being interviewed got confused sharing that piece of the -script. He had no idea why those characters showed up to fight Superman.

 

Jon Peters

[Chicago Boy]

Thanks! Dang it--don't have showtime!

[Bosco685]

Thanks! Dang it--don't have showtime!

 

[Mr 9.8]

Wow!

 

1) Jon Peters should be kept far away from any future comic book movies. Unfortunately, he is still involved in some way with Superman (executive producer) and even Sandman (??). He may even still own the film rights to Superman after purchasing these rights from Warner without its knowledge.

 

If that's the case I'm amazed MOS ended up as good as it did.

[Bosco685]

Warner Bros. Nearly Made Tim Burton's 'Superman' Movie An Animated Film

Quote

The film is a fascinating case of what could have been, a film that starred Nicholas Cage in the lead role. While it never passed the finish line, Batman vs. Two-Face co-writer Michael Jelenic revealed at New York Comic Con that an animated project was considered (via CBR).

 

“I had a big pitch, and they took it seriously for a second,” Jelenic said, “to do Tim Burton’s Superman…to do that animated.”

 

"Nic Cage would do it," a reporter said, which prompted Jelenic to reply "He would absolutely do it!"

 

Seeing Burton's Superman Lives project realized in animated form would really be something to behold, but Cage feels the project is powerful despite never hitting the big screen.

 

"The movie that Tim and I would have made, in your imagination, is more powerful than any of the Superman movies," Cage told EW. "I didn’t even have to make the movie and we all know what that movie would have been in your imagination. That is the Superman. That is the movie. Even though you never saw it — it is the Superman.”

I wonder if they will still give it a try.

[Bosco685]