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The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?

The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? (2015)

May. 01,2015
|
7.1
|
R
| Adventure Drama Action Documentary

The Death of 'Superman Lives': What Happened? feature film documents the process of development of the ill fated "Superman Lives" movie, that was to be directed by Tim Burton and star Nicolas Cage as the man of steel himself, Superman. The project went through years of development before the plug was pulled, and this documentary interviews the major filmmakers: Kevin Smith, Tim Burton, Jon Peters, Dan Gilroy, Colleen Atwood, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and many many more.

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Reviews

Karry
2015/05/01

Best movie of this year hands down!

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Dynamixor
2015/05/02

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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Hayden Kane
2015/05/03

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

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Derrick Gibbons
2015/05/04

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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michael-3204
2015/05/05

Low-budget but comprehensive documentary examination of the ill- fated 1990s attempt to reboot Superman. This is clearly a passion project of writer/director Jon Schnepp and it shows, for good and for ill. Schnepp's enthusiasm for the subject is infectious enough to carry us through what feels like an overlong film without too much drag. Somehow he managed to secure interviews with almost everyone important involved in the abandoned production, including would-be director Tim Burton, all three screenwriters who wrote and rewrote, Warner Bros. honcho Lorenzo di Bonaventura, costume designer Colleen Atwood, a large number of the technical artists who worked on the film's concepts, and most incredibly Jon Peters. Considering that screenwriter number one Kevin Smith has made a career trashing Peters over his involvement in what was supposed to be "Superman Lives," Peters is either brave or foolhardy for agreeing to participate.The most notable absence from the documentary is Nicholas Cage, who was cast as the Man of Steel and who we see only in archival footage of costume tests, but Schnepp has more than enough to work with. That is part of the problem -- this film presents more than anyone but the most obsessive fan boy would want to know about how the production progressed before it fell apart. It gets repetitive after the first hour and Schnepp isn't himself a dynamic enough filmmaker to keep it lively. The other problem is that, ultimately, despite some of the out-sized egos involved, there is no grand tale to tell here. "Superman Lives" died for perfectly sensible reasons, so this documentary ends on more of a whimper than a bang. While "The Death of Superman Lives" is catchier, this is really "The Short Life of Superman Lives" in that it gives us a good sense of what the film might ultimately have become, but doesn't really join the pantheon of fascinating tales of aborted projects.

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rmckenna19
2015/05/06

This is a wonderful documentary about the production process and eventual cancellation of the Nicholas Cage, Tim Burton "Superman Lives" movie. Its something that really isn't known about and this documentary really illuminated a lot about the movie. I loved the crazy weird designs and art that went into this movie and, even though I'm not confident that the film would be any good, I'm fascinated by what this might have been. Jon Schnepp does a great job stitching this history together with great editing of audio and video to really tell a story. I also loved some animations they overlaid on interviews to help explain what the interviewee was talking about. Despite loving this documentary it wasn't totally perfect. At times it had cheaper production value commensurate with it being self funded. There is also a weird segment left in where Jon Peters takes a phone call during the interview. It wasn't clear if this was trying to say something about him but it kind of derailed the generally great pace of this documentary so I felt it could have been left to the ether of bonus content rather than the main film. Overall I loved this documentary and Schnepp's fascination with this project is absolutely infectious. Moreover, I have never felt this kind of passion from Tim Burton before and it was great to see that in this context. Definitely a documentary to check out.

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siderite
2015/05/07

It is always fascinating to see the innards of the making of a movie. People that are working so much before you even know that the idea exists. Superman Lives, though, was not that special an idea.It would have been fun to see a long hared Nicolas Cage play Superman (and I honestly mean it, especially since he was still young and caring enough about his roles) and Tim Burton would have probably reinvented the superhero genre all by his lonesome. However it would have been neither completely revolutionary nor conservatory enough to appeal to movie studios. Its cancellation was not possible, but the most probable outcome.The documentary goes ahead and describes how the work for the movie started and how they prepared concepts and costumes and they were weeks from starting filming when the project was canceled. Fun to see Kevin Smith contradict Jon Peters on how things actually happened and who had which idea, but in the end the viewer doesn't care one way or the other.I feel that the documentary, unlike others in the genre, like Jodorowsky's Dune, failed completely in making the viewer care. You didn't see Cage heartbroken for not making the film (in fact he didn't appear at all, except in archive footage), you didn't see Smith or Peters cry tears of frustration for not getting the thing done, and the footage about their preparations and the minute details about the Superman costume left me cold.Bottom line: Good to watch it in order to learn how movies get conceived and made. Bad if you want to enjoy yourself or feel anything about this movie that was not made.

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JoaquimGonsalves
2015/05/08

A must watch for aspiring film-makers and anyone who loves movies enough to care about the collaborative work that goes on behind it. I'd like to think it's the same as having your family or spouse say, 'I want an abortion.' Can't even begin to imagine the pain.The artwork, the concepts, the ideas, with Tim Burton at the helm, it probably would have made a masterpiece that would be talked about for years. Like one of them said. "It wasn't made and we still are talking about it." Almost 20 years later!Personally I don't think it would have brought the studio the numbers at the time, considering Warner Bros'. bad run of luck and the very fact that the audience back then may not have been ready for it. The cinephiles of today though, with their healthy diet of superhero movies, would have thrown money for a story like this. (This documentary was funded largely by a Kickstarter campaign, so there you go)But when you see what they rather made with the previously allocated budget? (Man, you will be shocked.) You'd perhaps say, they should have gone with "Superman Lives" instead.A big shout of appreciation to Jon Schnepp for getting this made. An even bigger hug to the entire team for being brave enough to relive the memories.

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