posted 11-08-2006 06:26 PM                    

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"Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut" will delight fans who, for years, have been imploring Warner Home Video via voluminous numbers of petitions, letters, phone calls and e-mails to release the Donner cut. In fact, Donner had already shot most of the "Superman II" footage during [the production of] "Superman: The Movie." But as production on the sequel continued, creative differences between the director and the film's producers became irreconcilable and Donner left the project.

Although Richard Lester ["A Hard Day's Night," "The Three Musketeers"] was hired to finish production, he chose to make major changes to the film, leaving only vestiges of Donner's original vision and concepts in the version of "Superman II" that was ultimately released to theaters.

Now, nearly thirty years later, Warner Home Video is honored to grant the wishes of countless Superman fans. With this DVD release, Richard Donner has become the first director in history to be able to complete a film he left during production with nearly all his footage "in the can." Adding back a substantial amount of that unused footage, the director has seen his original vision restored and brought to fruition.

Most notably, the "Donner cut" restores the Marlon Brando role, filmed for, but not included in the final theatrical release version of "Superman II." The legendary Brando's performance as Jor-El has finally been restored in key scenes that amplify Superman lore and deepen the profound relationship between father and son.

With so many changes, large and small, including a variety of Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) schemes to unmask Clark Kent as Superman, this "Superman II" will prove to be an eye-opening experience and an important addition to film history.

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posted 11-08-2006 06:42 PM                    

quote: Michael Coate

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Mike Schindler won't like it, though, since it contains a spinning-the-earth-back-in-time scene.

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Is that actually in there? Where's the pinch-the-bridge-of-your-nose-with-your-thumb- and-index-finger-and-shake-your-head-disapprovingly smiley?

Oh, Donner... His co-writer has gone on record saying that they're not gonna do that in the comic.

I'm intrigued by this cut. Does it actually work as a cohesive movie, or does it feel chopped together?

[ 11-26-2006, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: Adam Martin ]

posted 11-08-2006 07:05 PM                    

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“I went through a bad period after I finished directing ‘Superman,’” said Dick Donner. “I had terrible ill feelings about the business and the people in it. I felt I didn’t want to work again. Normally, I’m a fairly happy-go-lucky person, but my fights with the Salkinds had depressed me utterly.”

Donner, who was dismissed as director of “Superman 2” after his battles with the producers, Alex and Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler, learned recently that although much of Part 2 was shot in tandem with Part 1, his name would not be on the credits of the new film. Sole directing credit goes to Richard Lester, who took over the reigns after Donner was taken off the project.

Donner has now had a pivate screening of “Superman 2.” According to him much of the footage he shot for the second film has now been junked. Contractually, he says, he was entitled to director credit on Part 2, so this forms part of the multimillion-dollar lawsuit he has brought against the producers.

“I suppose I’d shot almost 80% of Part 2 while we were filming Part 1,” said Donner, drinking coffee in his office the other morning. “And frankly I felt Part 2 was even better than Part 1. For one thing, we were no longer burdened with the task of explaining the fable.

“But now they’ve cut out so much of what I shot, obviously to keep it below the amount which would have necessitated giving me screen credit. And Marlon (Brando) is out of the film altogether. That’s such an injustice to the man. After all it was his name which gave the project credibility to the investment community in the first place.”

According to Donner, it was six months before he was able to surface after the “Superman” experience.

“At least that. I became something of a hermit. I did a lot of drinking, winding up with hangovers. Remember, I’d put 2 ½ years of my life into ‘Superman,’ and that’s a long time when you get to be my age (50).

“So I felt hostile and angry. I had very little love left for anybody, and what I had I didn’t want to share. Coupled with that was the feeling of having been cheated. I’d hoped ‘Superman’ would prove to be my nest egg. Now these legal hassles with the Salkinds mean it will be years before I get my money.

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posted 11-15-2006 12:47 AM                    

quote: Mike Blakesley

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On the same day, (11/28) Warner is releasing a whole shitload of Superman DVDs

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posted 11-27-2006 11:56 AM                       

quote: Chad Souder

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the villians lifting people in the air by pointing fingers at them and having some super-beam shoot out.

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posted 11-27-2006 04:26 PM                    

quote: Mike Blakesley

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I don't think it was ever part of the Superman mythology.

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posted 11-27-2006 08:20 PM                    

quote: Chad Souder

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is the scene gone where he goes back to the diner to seek revenge? What a bunch of crap.

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