The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?
Dir: Jon Schnepp
2015
****
The editing is jumpy, there was no need for Jon Schnepp to be always on screen interviewing and there are important parts of the story missing (read the brilliant Superman Vs. Hollywood by Jake Rossen to fill in the blanks). However, I still had multiple nerd-gasms and for good reason. Schnepp knows his Superman, to bag an interview with Kevin Smith, Tim Burton and Jon Peters (to name but a few) and to get them all to open up on what really happened leading up to one of cinema's most infamous 'What ifs?', the story of Superman Lives, the Superman film that never happened, is quite an achievement. Most people have seen the picture of Nicholas Cage in the famous suit, indeed, Bryan Singer got hold of the original Polaroid and would take it out and wave it in front of producers during Superman Returns meetings whenever they raised creative concerns and he would remind them that they gave it the all clear 10 years ago, so back the hell off, but many people don't know much more than that. The script originally written by Kevin Smith that was based on Jon Peters' 3 Golden rules (1. Superman can't fly, 2. Superman doesn't wear the famous suit anymore, 3. There must be an inclusion of a Giant Spider somewhere in the film), was actually quite brilliant considering the bizarre constraints. Smith knows his comics, Peters does not and neither it seem does Tim Burton, the saviour of the Batman franchise. It's fascinating to hear the truth once and for all, it's clear when people aren't being as truthful as they could be too, which adds to the deliciousness of the investigation. The documentary is crammed full of new unseen footage and the interviews and nothing short of geek gold. Every Super fan should see it. I'd now like to see a documentary on all the other failed Superman films, maybe the story behind McG's Flyby next Mr Schnepp?