Superman Returns
| Superman Returns | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Bryan Singer |
| Written by | Comic Book: Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster Screenplay: Michael Dougherty Dan Harris |
| Produced by | Gil Alder Jon Peters Bryan Singer |
| Starring | Brandon Routh Kevin Spacey Kate Bosworth Eva Marie Saint Marlon Brando (archive footage) |
| Cinematography | Newton Thomas Sigel |
| Edited by | John Ottman Elliot Graham |
| Music by | John Ottman John Williams (themes) |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Legendary Pictures |
Release dates | June 28, 2006 |
Running time | 153 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $184,500,000 |
Template:Infobox Film rating Superman Returns is a 2006 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Superman. The film is directed by Bryan Singer, and stars Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey. The screenplay is by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris.
Filming initiated in February 2005 and the movie is to be released in the United States on June 28, 2006 (some theaters will have early screenings of the film at 10 PM on Tuesday, June 27th). Bryan Singer has said that the loose continuity established in the first two Christopher Reeve Superman films will serve as its back-story, or, as he put it, a "vague history."[1]. Innovatively, the late Marlon Brando reprises his role as Superman's biological father, Jor-El, from Superman, using computer-generated techniques. [2]
Being released alongside the film will be a documentary, Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman, covering the history of the Superman franchise with input from Bryan Singer and other past and present actors, directors, writers, artists and fans.
Plot summary
Template:Spoiler After an absence of five years, Kal-El returns to Earth after investigating the remains of his destroyed homeworld of Krypton to determine if he was indeed the sole survivor of the planet.
After reuniting with his widowed mother, Martha Kent, Superman returns to the Daily Planet as Clark Kent and is shocked to discover the woman he loves has moved on with her life. In their years apart, Lois Lane is now in a serious, live-in relationship with another man — Richard White — and has had a young child. Superman's return challenges him to bridge the distance between himself and Lois while finding a place in a society that has learned to survive without him.
In the meantime, his old nemesis Lex Luthor, recently released from prison since Superman was not around to testify in court against him, schemes to render Superman powerless by the means of data crystals stolen from Superman's Fortress of Solitude — these efforts are part of a wider and elaborate villainous plot, reminiscent of that from Superman (1978).
As he struggles to stop Luthor's plans of cataclysmic destruction upon his beloved adopted world, Superman embarks on a journey of redemption that takes him from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Brandon Routh | Clark Kent / Superman |
| Kate Bosworth | Lois Lane |
| Kevin Spacey | Lex Luthor |
| Eva Marie Saint | Martha Kent |
| James Marsden | Richard White |
| Sam Huntington | Jimmy Olsen |
| Frank Langella | Perry White |
| Kal Penn | Stanford |
| Parker Posey | Kitty Koslowski |
| James Karen | Ben Hubbard |
| Stephan Bender | Young Clark Kent |
| Jack Larson | Bibbo Bibbowski |
| Noel Neill | Formerly Wealthy Woman |
| Mike Massa | 777 Pilot |
| Peta Wilson | Flight Attendant Bobbie Faye |
Project history
The project has had a long and protracted history stretching back to the early-1990s. When Warner Bros. bought back the movie rights from father and son team Ilya and Alexander Salkind, Jon Peters, producer of box-office smash Batman, attempted to spearhead the project in the hopes of making another blockbuster superhero franchise. The closest it came to fruition was with a script by Kevin Smith to be directed by Batman director, Tim Burton.
Other names attached during the years (some through rumour only) included directors Oliver Stone, Brett Ratner, Michael Bay and Charlie's Angels' McG, and actors Sandra Bullock, Beyoncé Knowles, Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, Anthony Hopkins, James Caviezel, Henry Cavill and Matthew Bomer. J. J. Abrams turned in a script that not only substantially revised the premises of the franchise (e.g., Luthor as a Kryptonian masquerading as a human CIA agent, Krypton not destroyed) but was also leaked onto the internet, receiving a generally hostile reaction by fans.
For a brief period in 2001 and 2002 a Superman and Batman film, Batman vs. Superman, was also put on the fast track to production with Wolfgang Petersen set to direct from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker. Petersen eventually left to direct Troy and Warner Studios decided to concentrate on separate movies for each character.
Production
Shooting of Superman Returns initiated in Australia, on locations that included a farm located outside of the regional town of Gunnedah in North West NSW, and Sydney. The film was shot entirely on high-definition video using a Panavision Genesis camera.
Budget
This film has been rumored to be one of the most expensive ever, with an alleged budget of $250,000,000. However, director Bryan Singer initially debunked this figure, claiming it was "a little lower than $200,000,000". He had supposedly admitted that the former amount was closer if not slightly less than the full amount spent, according to an erroneous statement made by Rotten Tomatoes. There is controversy over Singer's supposed admission, though, which took place during an episode of Sunday Morning Shootout. Co-host Peter Guber stated a figure that was referring to the total cost of bringing Superman back to the big screen from Burton to Singer rather than a budget overrun on the current production. Singer's statement that it was "more than that" was a reference to the same scenario. According to various articles on the character's journey back to the silver screen, the total amount spent before Singer came onboard was close to $150 million, as some of those involved had "pay or play" contracts — meaning that they get paid if production isn't started by a certain date. That figure, alongside Singer's $185 million, gives a total cost of $335 million. Also, since Brett Ratner had left production because his budget was too large (reportedly $234 million), it is unlikely that Warner Bros. would have allowed such a high expenditure for a single motion picture after denying a previous one, even with the financial backing of Legendary Pictures.
During production, Singer released a series of 'video diaries' on the internet at BlueTights.net, giving almost unprecedented up-to-date insight into the behind-the-scenes work being done, on what would normally be a very secretive production. However, after 27 installments, the video diaries stopped for a while shortly before the teaser trailer debuted.
Trailers and TV Spots
On November 17, 2005, Warner Bros. released the teaser trailer, containing John Williams' music and Marlon Brando's dialogue from Superman. The main theatrical trailer premiered online on May 2, 2006 (three days before its cinema debut). It appeared in theatres on May 5, 2006, along with prints of Mission: Impossible 3. On May 19 with UK prints of The Da Vinci Code, the studio released the film's international trailer. A second full version was issued with some prints of X-Men: The Last Stand on May 26, 2006. A third trailer appeared on the film's new official website in June, 2006, It also appeared online before the new site came on in the end of May. A fourth trailer is rumoured to be released with the new Adam Sandler movie, Click.
On May 11, Warner Bros began a campaign of television spots:
IESB Uploaded 11 clips of Superman Returns to their website Midaway through June.
- "Do you know the story of Prometheus?"
- "I Thought I Would Never See You Again"
- "Lois Lane is A Mommy"
- "Unidentified Bogey"
- "Airplane Rescue"
- "Superman Returns"
- "Were you in love with him?"
- "I love that he can see through anything"
- "Where did you go?"
- "Lois, will you come with me?"
- "This just came through the fax"
Reactions
A website called changethesuit.com (currently getting renewed) was formed as a means of protesting at the Superman costume designed for the film and trying to persuade the filmmakers to reconsider. The negative reaction revolved around it being different in shape and coloring to that in the current comic book. Singer's rendering is drawn from Joe Shuster and the Max Fleischer cartoons, while protesters argued that it should instead be based on interpretations of the post-Golden Age comics.
At the San Diego Comic-Con, Bryan Singer showed a five-minute montage of clips from the film to over six thousand viewers, who were so enthused by the footage, they gave it a standing ovation and had the director show it again.
Christopher Reeve's widow, Dana Reeve, in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005, was shown the press release photo of Brandon Routh and gave her nod of approval to the actor and the suit. She later sent Routh two pendants emblazoned with the Superman "S" and the words "Go Forward" to show the actor that he had her blessing. Sadly, she died on March 6th, 2006 before the film was completed.
A new montage of footage was shown in March 2006 at the National Association of Theatre Owners ShoWest convention and was favorably received.
In a video segment at ShoWest, Richard Donner is featured giving his nod of approval to Routh as Superman, stating, "He looks so much like Chris it's extraordinary. I'm ready to see this guy take flight, and I know Bryan [Singer] is going to make it happen."
In late April 2006, a Coca-Cola commercial aired in Australia, advertising for special premiere tickets, showed the first glimpse of Superman flying. The reaction was a little mixed, but the majority approved. A clip from the commercial with the scenes of Superman is available at Aintitcool.com.
The first spoiler-free review of the film showed up at the Superman Homepage in early June 2006, in which the reviewer proclaimed, "This movie is far greater than I could have ever anticipated, and I went in with extremely high expectations." Other reviews said that Singer had done the Superman character proud and that the whole cast had succeeded. [3] [4]
IMAX 3-D release
Superman Returns will be released on IMAX. The movie will include approximately 20 minutes of specially converted 3-D material. It is the first Hollywood live-action film to be released in this combined format.[5] The movie will have on-screen cues so moviegoers will know when to put on and off 3D glasses. The most recent 3D films and the most recent to do this were Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, but these were not displayed in IMAX or in a polarized 3-D: instead they were released theatrically and in anaglyph format.
Connections to Superman and Superman II
Singer has said that this film uses the first two films in the Superman film saga that began with 1978's Superman as a vague history to the events of Superman Returns. As such, there are many references to the previous series. These include:
- The late Marlon Brando, who played Superman's father, Jor-El, in the 1978 Superman and died in 2004, will return in the same role. Singer says he found stock footage of the actor shot by director Richard Donner in 1977, which will provide Jor-El's voice. Special-effects crews have digitally re-created Brando's image.[6] It is his voice that is featured in the teaser trailer for the film.
- In Superman Returns, it is implied that Lex Luthor has previously been to the Fortress of Solitude. (ala Superman II)
- Ben Hubbard, the man who takes care of Martha Kent, was mentioned in Superman and later in the comic books but is actually going to be seen in this film.
- The score composed by John Ottman will feature leitmotifs created by John Williams for the original film. Aside from the main "Superman March" theme, Ottman references the "Leaving Home Theme", the "Krypton theme" and the "Lois Lane Theme" (aka "Can You Read My Mind") in the score for the film. [7] The teaser trailer relies on the cue "The Planet Krypton", which was featured in the 1978 film.
- The flashback scenes in Smallville focus on a 15-year-old Clark Kent coming to terms with his abilities, as in the 1978 film. It may also tie in with the Smallville continuity, where Clark is around the same age as this movie's version of the character.
- Some of John Barry's Kryptonian designs for Superman, including the Fortress of Solitude and the baby Kal-El's transport pod, have been recreated.
- One of the Bluetights video diaries suggests an opening sequence that uses comic-book style images to relate the events of the 1978 film.
- The opening credits of this film use a three-dimensional, "zooming" text style similiar to the one used in the first film.
- By establishing this film as taking place after the first two films, it fundamentally retcons Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
- The film mentions Lois' article "How I Spent the Night with Superman" — written by the character in the 1978 film.
Casting
- One of many candidates considered, James Caviezel, expressed great interest in the role of Superman and campaigned long and hard to win the coveted part, but despite his best efforts he was rejected by Bryan Singer in favor of newcomer Brandon Routh. Singer felt Caviezel was too famous and recognizable after playing Jesus in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004). Comic book writer and former Superman Adventures scribe Mark Millar placed a bet and lost, he was so sure Caviezel would get he role.
- Similarly, Hayden Christensen was rejected when it was thought inappropriate that Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) should be Superman.
- Tom Welling, who plays Clark Kent in the TV series Smallville was not considered for the role, since a fresh face for Superman was required.
- Jake Gyllenhaal also lobbied hard for the title role, as well as for Batman in Batman Begins, but lost out both times.
- Brendan Fraser was also interested in starring, but he was deemed to be "too old".
- Nicolas Cage was originally signed on in the role, for the older incarnation of the film Superman Lives, but left the project after it appeared to be going nowhere.
- Other actors who read for the role included Ashton Kutcher, Henry Cavill, Josh Hartnett, Jerry O'Connell, Ian Somerhalder, David Boreanaz, and Paul Walker.
- According to Bryan Singer, Tom Welling was never an option to play Superman
- Johnny Depp was considered for role of Lex Luthor as well as Jor-El.
- Anthony Hopkins was cast as Jor-El but he left the project.
- Patrick Stewart discussed the possibility of playing Jor-El.
- Professional wrestler Kurt Angle auditioned for the role of Lex Luthor.
- Keira Knightley was considered for the role of Lois Lane.
- Shawn Ashmore was rumoured to play Jimmy Olsen.
- Jude Law was Bryan Singer's only choice to play General Zod. After Law turned down the role several times, Singer eliminated the character from the script.
Trivia
- Warner Bros. announced plans for a sequel months before the release of the movie, with production beginning in late 2007–early 2008, for a Summer 2009 release. [8]
- This will be the first Superman movie to date to be wholly produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Superman IV: The Quest For Peace was co-produced by Warner Bros. and Cannon Films.
- Producers of Smallville were allowed to visit the set during production.
- According to Bryan Singer, Superman has always been aged in his late twenties to early thirties, and will continue to be so.
- This will be the first Superman movie to receive a PG-13 rating. The previous films were rated PG.
- Fan reactions have been greatly divided. Most complaints have risen from the new costume design, the choice of Routh as the lead, and most of all the decision to make the film a sequel of sorts to the first two of Christopher Reeve's Superman films.
- The use of the Brando footage has also generated mixed reactions; when Superman was released in 1978, some fans of the comics series felt that the actor was simply too old and slightly overweight to play a credible Jor-El. (The character was invariably portrayed in comics for over three decades as being about the age of the adult Superman, i.e., late twenties to early 30s, when Krypton was destroyed.)
- The movie was to have been released on Friday, June 30, 2006, but Warner Bros. bumped up the date to Tuesday, June 27 (both conventional and IMAX theaters will host showings at 10pm on Tuesday night, a day ahead of its official June 28 theatrical release). This is seen by many as an act to enable the film to collect three more days' box-office revenue before the debut of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest on July 7.[9]
- The companion album to the score, Sound of Superman will be released on June 13th.
- Before Kate Bosworth was cast as Lois Lane, some other actresses being considered included Elisha Cuthbert, Claire Danes, and Keri Russell.
- Actors that McG auditioned before his departure included Jason Behr and Jared Padalecki for the role of Superman, Scarlett Johansson for Lois Lane, and Shia LaBeouf for Jimmy Olsen.
- Kevin Smith's original script, to which Tim Burton was immediately attached, was based on D.C. Comics' 1993 series in which Superman was killed by a creature named Doomsday and then brought back to life more powerful than before. After a lengthy development process, Warner Bros. chose not to go with Smith's script and hired other writers, such as Alias creator, J.J. Abrams, to revive the series.
- Tim Burton's "Superman Lives" was far enough into pre-production at the time it was canceled that the studio had already designed a teaser poster to be displayed in theatres. It consisted of a stylized silver "S" shield set against a black background, with the phrase "Coming 1998" displayed across the bottom third of the poster. Finalized copies of the poster were printed up, but it's unclear how many were made before the movie was called off.
- Routh put on 20 pounds of muscle for the role of Superman.
Spin-offs
- DC Comics has announced that it will release four titles throughout June 2006 to tie in with the movie, in addition to the official comics adaptation. The four 40-page editions will serve to bridge the story of Superman II and Superman Returns and are entitled Krypton to Earth, Ma Kent, Lex Luthor and Lois Lane.[10]
- The novelization by Marv Wolfman was published by Warner Books on 1 June 2006 (ISBN 0446606529).
- Also scheduled is a Superman Returns video game for release on 20 September 2006.
Footnotes
- ^ AintItCoolNews: Capone interviews Bryan Singer
- ^ TVGuide.com: Bryan Singer on The Triangle, X-Men and Superman
- Singer stated:
"What we did is we went back to footage from the original Superman and re-created Jor-El using computer technology based on references to the Richard Donner film. ... The challenge is that, when you have an actor, you can scan them using a cyberscan and a lumispheric scan to re-create them all the way down to the pores on their tongue or the hair on their ears. But since we didn't have Brando, we didn't have the actor. All we had was reference photography and film footage, so we had to reconstruct him in a computer. It was very challenging."
- ^ BostonHerald.com: "Superman": A Magisterial Return
- ^ Comicbookresources.com: Spoiler-free mini-review
- ^ Movieweb.com: 20 Minutes of Superman Returns Converted to 3D for IMAX
- ^ USAtoday.com: Superman torch is passed
- ^ Soundtrack.net: In the Hands of Mortals
- ^ Variety.com: Warner's men in tights: 'Batman', 'Superman' to see sequel action
- ^ Heck, Why Not Just See Superman Returns on June 27?
- ^ Newsarama.com: DC official press release on Superman Returns prequels
References
- Superman Returns at IMDb
- Official website (including trailers).
- Superherohype.com: Superman Hype!
- Superman Trades (chronological list of graphic novels, including film and television tie-ins).
- Superman Returns at CanMag.
- Superman Returns at Rotten Tomatoes
- BlueTights Network
- MySpace Official
- BBC News: Critics wowed by Superman return