Superman II (found Richard Donner cut of superhero film; 1980)

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DVD cover for Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

Status: Found

Date found: 28 Nov 2006

Found by: Michael Thau


Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut is a 2006 re-edited director's cut of the 1980 superhero movie Superman II. The re-edited version of the film was created by director Richard Donner and producer Ilya Salkind using existing footage but with new scenes shot by editor Michael Thau and composer John Williams. The DVD release includes an optional commentary track from Donner explaining the differences between this cut and the original theatrical version. The restored film was released in 2006 and coincided with the release of the film Superman Returns.

Background

Superman II was shot back to back with the original Superman movie with production beginning in March of 1977, Richard Donner directing in both cases. By the time the first Superman movie was finished, Superman II was still running behind schedule and over budget. This caused a great deal of tension between Donner and Warner Bros. In March of 1979, Donner was replaced Richard Lester, best-known at the time as director of the Beatles' third film Help!. [1] At the time of Donner's departure, Superman II was roughly 75% complete. In order to be credited as the film's sole director under the rules of the Director's Guild of America, Lester re-shot a substantial portion of this.

Plot

Despite the change of directors, the plots for both Superman II and the Richard Donner Cut are largely the same. The major difference is in tone; while the Richard Donner Cut is more serious, Lester brought his more purely comedic sensibilites to the material, producing the faster-paced and more accessible film that the studio was looking for.

Either way, Superman II opens with a flashback on Krypton some time prior to that planet's destruction, showing dangerous criminals General Zod, Ursa, and Non being banished to the Phantom Zone by Jor-El and the planetary council. Back on present-day Earth, Superman rushes to Paris to stop a group of terrorists from detonating a hydrogen bomb at the Eiffel Tower. He manages to neutralize the bomb's impact by hurling it into space. Unfortunately, the shockwave from the massive explosion cracks the Phantom Zone within our solar system and frees the three criminals, who are delighted to realize that they, like Superman, have been granted extraordinary superpowers via our yellow Sun. Having found then easily killed human astronauts on the Moon, they head to Earth with conquest on their minds.

While all this is going on, the Daily Planet has sent ace reporters Clark (Superman) Kent and Lois Lane out to Niagara Falls. Lois has become convinced that Clark Kent and Superman are indeed the same person, and though she fails to prove it via forcing him to rescue her, eventually Clark slips up and confesses all, taking Lois to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic and declaring his love. In order for them to be together always, he strips himself of his powers via a Red Kryptonite chamber in the Fortress, and after spending the night together the couple head back to civilization by car.

Their idyll is brought to an abrupt end when they stop at a diner, where newly-fragile Clark is beaten up by a trucker with designs on Lois, and then sees a special news bulletin: the three Kryptonians have arrived on Earth and quickly forced the President of the USA to surrender on behalf of the planet. To complete their conquest, they demand that the planet's champion Superman (aka Kal-El, son of their erstwhile captor Jor-El) kneel before General Zod. Realizing he's made a terrible mistake all round, Clark rushes back to the Fortress to try and regain his powers.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor has escaped from jail and discovered the Fortress. In the process he learns of Kal-El's connection to Zod, and offers to lead the General to Superman in exchange for control of Australia. On arrival at the Daily Planet offices they find a freshly re-empowered Man of Steel, ready for battle. Zod however soon pinpoints Superman's great remaining weakness - his concern for ordinary humans - and uses it to achieve a standoff that only breaks when Superman apparently gives up and flies back to the Fortress. The three criminals promptly follow, taking Lois and Luthor along for the ride.

On their arrival Zod declares that Luthor has outlived his usefulness to them and will die along with the other two. Superman urges Luthor to trick the criminals into entering the depowering chamber, but Lex is still betting on Zod, leading to the Man of Steel being forced into the chamber instead. The delighted General compels his old enemy's son to bow to him at last - only to discover that he and his companions are the ones that have been depowered, Superman having rewired the chamber's Red Kryptonite rays to reflect outwards. With Lois' help, he easily defeats all three and returns Luthor to prison.

The movie ends with Clark giving Lois a kiss that erases her knowledge of his secret identity (at least until Superman IV, wherein she implies that it has since worn off). He then returns to the diner to take a bit of revenge on the bully trucker before flying off into the sunset, once again the lone champion of Earth.[2]

Production

Production under Lester began in September 1979. Many changes were made, including actor Marlon Brando as Jor-El being replaced by Susannah York as his wife, Lara, for the scenes in which she speaks to their son in the Fortress of Solitude. Budgetary and scheduling issues meant that key scenes filmed by Donner had to be included in the final cut; however he refused to share the directing credit under those circumstances, and thus his name does not appear on the theatrical release.

Due to this chaotic state of production - eventually spanning over two years - several continuity errors were unavoidable. Among other issues, Superman/Clark Kent develops and loses muscle and Lois Lane changes hair and makeup styles according to who directed which shot. [3] Production on Superman II concluded in March of 1980.

Christopher Reeves on the set of Superman II.

Confirmed Changes

  • Non, the outsized but mute Kryptonian, is played as a bumbling sidekick in Lester's version, instead of the purely intimidating threat originally envisioned.
  • Kighthearted shots of frightened civilians were added during the climactic fight scene in Metropolis.
  • The Kryptonian criminals put their faces on Mount Rushmore, instead of dramatically toppling the WAshington Monument.
  • A rather dramatic change in the origins of the bomb that frees the Kryptonians from the Phantom Zone. Donner's version begins with a recap of the previous film's scene showing Superman hurling a nuclear missile into space, while Lester's version begins with a new adventure in which the Man of Steel does the same again.
  • In Donner's version of events, Lois Lane notices the resemblance between Clark Kent and Superman after he rescues her at the end of the previous film. At the beginning of the sequel, Lane spots Kent around the office without his glasses, and is shortly after seen thoughtfully scribbling some glasses on a picture of Superman. In the revised version this setup is scrapped and Lane's suspicions begin when they travel to Niagara Falls together, and Lane jumps over the falls to make Kent save her, rather than out a window of The Daily Planet building as per the original.
  • In Donner's version, Lane shoots a gun at Kent and he after it bounces off he admits that he's Superman, while in Lester's version, Clark drops his glasses into a fire and retrieves them without burning himself, revealing the truth.
  • Marlon Brando was originally slated to return as Jor-El, guiding his son Kal-El as in the first film. When Brando refused to make himself available for reshoots, however, he was replaced with his wife Lara, played by Susannah York.
  • In Donner's take on his dilemma over true love, Superman admits to being selfish and decides to give up his powers because he can no longer serve humanity objectively.Superman talks to Lara, who says he must become mortal to be with a human, without further explanation.
  • The conversation with Jor-El in Donner's version is longer, and the crystal chamber used to depower Superman looks different in each version.
  • Gene Hackman refused to do any reshoots without Donner. Thus all Luthor's scenes are among those that had to be kept as-is, meaning in turn that his part was cut down substantially in the finished version. Each of Lex Luthor's scenes in the original are at least a few seconds longer.
  • The original features an additional fight scene in the Fortress of Solitude prior to the theatrics with the depowering chamber.
  • In keeping with the surrealist style visible in Help, Lester's Kryptonians develop numerous bizarre new powers as the plot demands. The three criminals can teleport and shoot energy beams from their palms; Superman can create holographic duplicates of himself and induce selective amnesia with a kiss; and most famously, he peels the "S" off of his costume and hurls it onto Non, entangling him very much in the style of Spider-Man's webbing. [4]

Availability

For many years, the Donner Cut of Superman II remained lost. The thought of releasing did not gain momentum until 2001 when Michael Thau released a restored version of the first Superman film. Michael had discovered six tones of footage in a vault in England. Initially, Michael Thau was hesitant to re-edit Superman II as he was burnt out from re-editing the first Superman movie. In May of 2004, various fan websites started a campaign to get Richard Donner's cut of the film released. Warner Bros would respond to this by claiming that they were keen on restoring Richard Donner's cut Superman II but couldn't due to complex legal issues surrounding the estate of the actors involved in the project. Richard Donner did not seem too keen on revisiting the film as he was working on other projects during the time. [5]

The unused footage of Superman II were still subject to the estates of Marlon Brando and Alexander Salkind. These legal issues would eventually get settled, and work to restore the film began in 2005. Richard Donner was not interested in the project as he was directing the movie 16 Block [6]

Release

The "Richard Donner Cut" was screened at the Director's Guild of America in Hollywood. Many of the cast and crew including Richard Donner were in attendance for the premiere. The film was released on DVD on November 28th, 2006.

Legacy

Richard Donner is largely credited for starting the trend of Superhero movies. Before he directed Superman: The Movie, there were very few comic book adaptations. His movie was a success at the box office and inspired many other studios to make movies based on comic books. Many of these movies have become some of the most popular franchises in history.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ [1] Retrieved 27 April '23
  2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_II Wiki entry on the film, including a detailed plot summary.
  3. ↑ [2] Retrieved 27 Apr '23
  4. ↑ [3] Retrieved 28 Apr '23
  5. ↑ [4] Retrieved 28 Apr '23
  6. ↑ [5] Retrieved 28 Apr '23
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