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Superman Lives - the weirdest Superman movie never made
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SUPERMAN LIVES Screenwriter On What Tim Burton's Film Could've Been

 

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Movies.com: Is there a favorite -script of yours that never came to be?

 

Gilroy: I had some pretty high-profile ones. You know, I spent a year working with Tim Burton on his Superman Lives movie and the day they pulled the plug on that was very, very disappointing. It was disappointing for all of us: for me, for Tim, for Nic Cage, for John Peters. We were very far along and Warner Bros. had gone through a cycle where nothing they were making was connecting and they were hemorrhaging money and they just didn't feel that they could sustain making that film. So that was a major disappointment. I think Tim would have made a really marvelous film out of what we had come up with. That was hard.

 

Movies.com: How do you recover from that?

 

Gilroy: It's a wound. It's like getting punched in the face. You spend a year pouring all your artistic and creative energy into it and suddenly it evaporates and goes away in the space of a phone call. And you have to regroup. It's a disappointment, though obviously there are greater disappointments in life than that, but you have to take the time to say that hurts and figure out what that means and as honestly as possible move on and continue what you're doing. I think Tim and all of us went through that process. It was very painful.

 

Movies.com: Is there anything from your -script that you wanted for Superman that you're still bummed hasn't seen the light of day?

 

Gilroy: Tim had the idea, which was really the driving force of the movie, that Jor-el didn't have the chance to tell Kal-el when he put him in the little spaceship meteorite where he came from or who he was. So poor little Kal-el grew up on Earth having no idea where these powers came from or who he was, and I always thought that was a really inverted, deconstructionist element to bring to the story. I loved it and working with Tim we tried to explore it as much as possible. I'd love to see it happen some day. I'm a big Tim Burton fan.

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Oh my!

 

SUPERMAN LIVES: Jim Carrey & Gary Oldman Were Considered For Brainiac

 

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At the time I had no idea who had written it or that Tim Burton was on board to direct, but they told me Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman were being considered for Brainiac. It was interesting to read the -script years later and see that Kevin Smith had actually done a pretty impressive job by introducing the Eradicator as a transforming suit in order to weave together all the requirements the producer wanted: "No Superman suit, no flying... and a giant spider in the 3rd act." He even managed to include 2 polar bears. - Rolf Mohr

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I wonder if this was after they saw Gary Oldman as Jean‑Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in 'The Fifth Element' and decided he looked good with a metal plate on his head.

 

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Oh Lord!

 

SUPERMAN LIVES Would've Had Clark Kent & Lois Lane In Couples Therapy

 

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"Well I came in after Kevin Smith and Wesley Strick had written drafts. I was very much taken by Tim's approach, which was that Kal-El was not told by Jor-El, before he got put in the little spaceship, who he was or where he came from. So poor little Kal-El, when he winds up on earth, he has no freaking idea where he came from. His biggest fear is that he's an alien. Our Superman was in therapy at the beginning of the film. He's in a relationship with Lois Lane and he can't commit. Or he was maybe in couple's therapy. But he can't commit because he doesn't know who he is or what is going on with him. He's hoping that he has some physiological condition that gives him these powers but that he's still human. It becomes very apparent, though, early in the -script, when Lex Luthor uncovers the remnants of the spacecraft, he suddenly realizes – "Oh my god, I'm an alien." It was all about the psychological trauma of it. I loved it. We had Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen. And unfortunately, while we were working on the -script, Warner Bros was hemorrhaging. Every big movie that was coming out was bombing and failing and when it came time to step up and bankroll our -script, they didn't have the financial wherewithal or desire. Which is a shame because Tim would have knocked it out of the park. And Nic Cage, oh my god! I was so ready for that." - Dan Gilroy

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Kevin Smith told a very long winded story about the film on one of his podcasts. It was an episode of Fatman on Batman. The film sounded *spoon* from the beginning.

 

It would have been epic though and I wonder what it would have done to Cage's career.

 

Any clue which podcast this might have been? I'd like to listen to it. I just looked at the synopses for every episode of Fatman on Batman, and none of them mention Superman Lives that I noticed. There is one that's about the "Man of Steel" release, but the synopsis doesn't mention Superman Lives. If you can recall when the podcast came out that could help if you can't remember which episode it may have been. Smith does a bunch of podcasts...could it have been on one of his other ones?

 

Here's the full list of episodes:

 

http://smodcast.com/channels/fatman-on-batman/

 

And here's a direct link to that episode that came out when "Man of Steel" was released (it's episode 40):

 

http://smodcast.com/episodes/man-of-steel-super-special-fat-man-and-gar-man-on-superman/

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Kevin Smith told a very long winded story about the film on one of his podcasts. It was an episode of Fatman on Batman. The film sounded *spoon* from the beginning.

 

It would have been epic though and I wonder what it would have done to Cage's career.

 

I do think it is one of his funnier stories he tells. Especially with the repeat studio executive meetings.

 

 

Just finished listening to this. The part where the producer insisted on there being a giant spider at the end was hilarious. :roflmao:

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Oh Lord!

 

SUPERMAN LIVES Would've Had Clark Kent & Lois Lane In Couples Therapy

 

-------------------

"Well I came in after Kevin Smith and Wesley Strick had written drafts. I was very much taken by Tim's approach, which was that Kal-El was not told by Jor-El, before he got put in the little spaceship, who he was or where he came from. So poor little Kal-El, when he winds up on earth, he has no freaking idea where he came from. His biggest fear is that he's an alien. Our Superman was in therapy at the beginning of the film. He's in a relationship with Lois Lane and he can't commit. Or he was maybe in couple's therapy. But he can't commit because he doesn't know who he is or what is going on with him. He's hoping that he has some physiological condition that gives him these powers but that he's still human. It becomes very apparent, though, early in the -script, when Lex Luthor uncovers the remnants of the spacecraft, he suddenly realizes – "Oh my god, I'm an alien." It was all about the psychological trauma of it. I loved it. We had Chris Rock as Jimmy Olsen. And unfortunately, while we were working on the -script, Warner Bros was hemorrhaging. Every big movie that was coming out was bombing and failing and when it came time to step up and bankroll our -script, they didn't have the financial wherewithal or desire. Which is a shame because Tim would have knocked it out of the park. And Nic Cage, oh my god! I was so ready for that." - Dan Gilroy

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Don't let that small fact get past anyone. Chris Rock? Really?!

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Reviewing THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN LIVES! WHAT HAPPENED?; The Movie You Wish Got Made

 

The most strikingly intimate moments of the film are the behind-the-scenes home movies where Nicholas Cage and Tim Burton are conducting costume tests in a hotel room. They casually talk about the character, have a few laughs and share their enthusiasm for the movie they're making. For a moment, you almost feel like you're there with them in the moment, just as excited as they are. It's so obvious...these two grown men are children again. You get mentally involved in their conversation. I loved hearing them talk about how the world would receive Superman as a freak, and how the Clark Kent persona would probably be the real freak, as showcased by Kal-El trying to fit in--being untrue to himself. What surprised me the most was the discussion of Superman being an outsider. A stranger in a strange land. How hard it would be for him to relate to others. How alone he would feel. Themes that wouldn't be explored again until Snyder's Man of Steel, almost 20 years later.

 

Should you see this film? Absolutely. The most impressive thing this movie accomplishes is also the most heart breaking aspect about it. That by the end of it all...when the credits start rolling...regardless of whether or not you came away thinking that Superman Lives would have been awful....you wish they made this movie.

 

5/5 Stars

 

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Enjoy the first 10 minutes of the feature film documentary "The Death of 'Superman Lives'; What Happened?" and find out all about the doomed "Superman Lives" production that was to star Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel. Join Director Jon Schnepp as he explores the history of this project, and speaks with writers Kevin Smith, Wesley Strick, Dan Gilroy, Producers Jon Peters and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Costume Designer Colleen Atwood, Director Tim Burton and many more.

 

 

the-death-of-superman-lives-poster-142787.jpg

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