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 time of Donner's departure, Superman II had been roughly 75% complete. In order to be credited as the film's sole director, Lester re-shot a substantial portion of this total.

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 sensitibilites 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 and easily killed human astronauts on the Moon, then 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. Lane has become convinced that Kent and Superman are indeed the same person, and though she fails to prove it via forcing him to rescue her, eventually Kent slips up and confesses all, taking Lane to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic and declaring his love. In order for them to be together always, Kent strips himself of his powers via a special chamber in the Fortress, and after spending the night together the couple head back to civilization by car.

Their idyll is broguht to an abrupt end when they stop at a diner, where the newly-fragile Kent 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, Kent immediately returns to the Fortress to try and regain his powers.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor has escaped from jail and tracked down 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 soon pinpoints Superman's 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 Lane 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 Luthor is still betting on Zod, leading to the Man of Steel being forced into the chamber instead. The delighted General commands his old enemy's son to kneel before him at last - only to discover that the three criminals are the ones that have been depowered, the Man of Steel having rewired the chamber's red Kryptonite rays to reflect outwards. With Lois' help, he easily destroys 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 worn off) then returning to the diner to take a bit of revenge on the bully trucker, before flying off, once again the lone hero of Earth.[2]

Production

Production under Richard Lester began in September 1979. Many changes were made, including actor Marlon Brando being replaced by Susannah York. Budgetary and scheduling issues meant that key scenes filmed by Richard Donner were included in the final cut. Despite including scenes by Richard Donner, he did not want to co-share credits with Richard Lester and thus did not have his name included in the theatrical release. While Richard Donner had completed 75% of the film, due to rules set by the Director's Guild of America, Richard Lester would not be credited. To assure that Richard Lester would be credited, he refilmed scenes that had been shot by Richard Donner but changed the overall tone to be more comedic as opposed to the more serious tone set by Richard Donner.

Christopher Reeves on the set of Superman II.

Due to production taking more than two years to complete, severe continuity errors were revealed by people who had rewatched the film multiple times. Keen-eyed viewers have pointed out that Superman and Clark Kent develop and lose muscle, Lois Lane miraculously changes hair and makeup styles, and other treasures that only dedicated fans appear to notice. [3] Production on Superman II concluded in March of 1980.

Confirmed Changes

Because of changes in directors, significant portions of Superman II were changed in order to fit the demand of Warner Bros. These changes included the following:

  • Richard Donner viewed Superman as modern mythology and took a serious approach in both Superman: The Movie and Superman II: The Donner Cut.
  • Donner's version mostly cuts out the humor added by Richard Lester.
  • The character Non, a non-speaking Kryptonian, is played as an overgrown baby in Lester's version, but Donner's version gets the meat of his scenes without the jokes.
  • Lester inserted humorous shots of civilians during the big climactic fight scene in Metropolis, but Donner mostly gets rid of that and plays it more straight.
  • Lester had the Kryptonians put their faces on Mount Rushmore, which Donner replaced with a more serious toppling of the Washington Monument in the Donner Cut.
  • Donner's version begins with a recap of the previous film where Superman hurls a nuclear missile into space and the shockwave frees the evil Kryptonians from the Phantom Zone prison.
  • Lester's version begins with Superman stopping a terrorist attack in Paris by throwing a hydrogen bomb into space, which frees the Kryptonians.
  • Lester's version creates a reason for Superman to throw another bomb into space, while Donner's version does not.
  • Both movies have a recap at the beginning, but Donner's is necessary to show how the previous film leads into the sequel, while Lester's feels more like a TV show recap.
  • In Donner's version, Lois Lane notices the resemblance between Clark Kent and Superman at the end of the previous film.
  • At the beginning of the movie, Lois scribbles some glasses on a picture of Superman in Donner's version.
  • Lois Lane jumps out a window of The Daily Planet building to make Clark save her in Donner's version.
  • In Donner's version, Lois Lane spots Clark without his glasses and suspects he's Superman.
  • In Lester's version, the first time Lois Lane suspects that Clark is Superman is at Niagra Falls, ignoring the fact that she suspected it in the previous film.
  • Clark saves Lois without being noticed in both versions.
  • In Donner's version, Lois shoots a gun at Clark and 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.
  • Test footage is used for the hotel scene in Donner's version, while Lester's version looks better, but both work.
  • Marlon Brando returns as Jor-El in the Donner Cut and plays a similar role to Superman: The Movie in guiding Kal-El.
  • Jor-El is replaced by Superman's mother, Lara, played by Susannah York.
  • Both versions show Superman giving up his powers to be with Lois.
  • 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.
  • The theatrical release features a depowering sequence with bizarre animation where Superman's skin melts away.
  • Gene Hackman refused to do any reshoots without Donne, so Lester used the existing footage filmed by Donner
  • Lester used just enough of Lex to tell the story but did not go deep into character development.
  • In the Donner Cut, focuses on the antics surrounding Luthor
  • Each of Lex Luthor's scenes in the Donner Cut area few seconds longer.
  • The fight between Zod and Superman ends with Superman running away and luring them to the Fortress of Solitude
  • There is an additional fight scene in the Fortress of Solitude first
  • The characters have strange and silly powers in the Lester version
  • Evil Kryptonians can suddenly teleport and shoot energy beams
  • Superman can create holographic duplicates of himself
  • The most famous of these bizarre powers is when Superman peels the "S" off of his costume and hurls it onto Non like a big blanket.

[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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