Before Zach Snyder took over the reigns of Superman, Batman director Tim Burton was going to try his hand at directing the Man of Steel. Based on a screenplay by Kevin Smith, Superman Lives was to star Nicolas Cage as a flightless incarnation of the Man of Steel in a radically different take on the character.
And while that project floundered for years, running up some huge bills that eventually had to be paid off with Superman Returns, it could soon prove to be educational for Hollywood and fans of film. That is, if Jon Schnepp can get a documentary made that will look at how and why the film failed.
Schnepp has appealed directly to fans via a Kickstarter campaign to finance the project.
“This film, out of all the various attempts to make a Superman movie between 1987 and 2006, would have stood the test of time and become a bona fide Cult Classic nowadays,” said Schnepp.
“I am not alone with my intense interest in knowing everything I can about this project, and so now I’m embarking on making a documentary that will cover everything ever made for this film, from interviewing as many people as I can who were involved, to including actually recreating scenes from the script.”
Superman Lives would reportedly have drawn inspiration from the ‘Death of Superman’ plotline, with Lex Luthor, Brainiac and Doomsday serving as its villains.
The project was intended for release in 1998.
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Wow, that particular superman film sounds even worse than the one they’re making now. Can’t anyone even try to make a decent superman film, the comics are good, can’t they copy those or something.