d2cheer

I won't watch it again because why the fuck would anyone? But Smith is a deal breaker???

Solid Snake

Hey. Maybe he's a fat fuck too many? I can't stand watching Harry Knowles in any form. Smith is ok. Knowles I just hope chokes on his tongue or something.

Deadman31

No it would be like making a Rocky movie where he doesnt fight anyone.

Josh-da-man

In the earliest comic books, Superman didn't fly; he could just jump great distances, so that is sort of keeping in line with the character.

It wasn't until the Fleisher cartoons that this was changed to flying because it was less work to animate, and the comic books picked this trait up.

Supermallet

I agree that putting the director in the interviews was not just unnecessary, but distracting. I realize that he loves the idea of Superman Lives and sees himself as the film's champion, but let the content speak for itself.

And I have to disagree with people who say that Superman Lives could have likely turned out to be a good movie. For every idea of deconstructing the Superman mythos that Burton talks about, you get someone else discussing ninja fight sequences and polar bears. It would have been a complete mess and a massive failure for WB.

GoldenJCJ

Yeah, well obviously ninjas fighting Superman's guards would have been epic!

GoldenJCJ

I'm certainly not a Superman expert but I always figured as much since the original tagline was "...able to leap tall buildings in a single bound..."

Actually, making large jumps makes more sense than simply flying but I guess that's small potatoes when you think about everything else the guy can do.

Michael Corvin

Finally caught this on Showtime. Pretty interesting stuff. The movie sounds like it was a complete mess from the get-go, mostly because of execs, nee, Jon Peters thinking his ideas trump the writers (whom know the character).

This was immediately apparent. Peters is well spoken but it was clear early on he didn't have a fucking clue about what a Superman movie should be. It seemed like he had some generic ideas he always wanted to see on film, it didn't matter if it fit the Superman mythos or not. The fact that he refutes himself throughout just makes it that much more entertaining. I loved seeing the writers, concept designers and even Smith talking about other execs just having their minds blown on the ideas Peters wanted in the film.

Smith and a couple of the concept artists did seem to be the most honest. Some of the other execs, writers and whatnot felt like Burton 'yes'-men. Burton and Cage's Superman would have been awesome!

Not getting Nic Cage to do an interview kinda sucked.

Addressing all the box office flops at the time was an interesting sidebar I didn't know or think about at the time.

They should totally bring back Burton and do an animated or stop-motion version of that script and let Nic Cage do the voice.

Holy shit it was like watching a bobble head interview people. Total miscalculation. And that phone call, mid interview? Why was that not cut out?

All in all a decent documentary that could have been so much more in capable hands.

godzilla rules

I was really disappointed with this movie. I hated that the director put himself in the movie. He was very distracting. I also felt that once the point of the film had been made, it felt that they were just going over the same things over and over.

This would have been a good short doc as a special feature on a blu-ray. The movie runs out of steam long before the halfway mark. One of the worst movies of 2015.

* out of four.

whotony

Catching up on this one now.
Peters looks like even more of a loon than Smith makes him To be when he Talks about the movie.

Also I always find it odd to hear people in movies call them "shows".

Pizza

Just the idea of Nic Caged as Superman is a turnoff for me. I remember at the time fearing this movie and then was relieved when it was canned. And, I really like Nic Cage and love Superman but some things just don't mix. Watching the doc and seeing those scenes of Cage in the suit made me cringe.

PhantomStranger

I found this documentary pretty compelling viewing as someone that thought Cage playing Superman back in the day was an abomination. Its glaring weakness is the lack of Cage himself, his thoughts would have completed the puzzle left by Superman Lives. I was surprised that Burton was so open and candid about so many things, especially his creative process.

Now understanding Burton's vision for the film, I can understand why WB pulled the plug. They saw a box office turkey waiting to happen as regular Superman fans would have almost certainly revolted against the story and execution. The concepts and designs looked interesting, but Burton clearly should have used them on a movie without the Superman character. They didn't belong in a mainstream superhero movie.

WB was going through a real bad string of box office results during production. I suspect the failure of Burton's idiosyncratic Mars Attacks in 1996 weighed heavily on their minds on whether to go forward or not.

Never wonder why Hollywood has a difficult time adapting comic book properties. None of the creative people working on Superman Lives had an ounce of respect for the character's long history and few of them were familiar with comic books. That is how you get abortions like Batman & Robin.

majorjoe23

I'm watching this at the moment. There's a Showtime free preview this weekend on Hulu, and the doc is included in that.

DieselsDen

Agreed as to all these points. All the focus on the costume just seemed to go on forever. As with most Tim Burton films, little attention is paid to a strong storyline or just the overall plot. SUPERMAN LIVES looked like it was going to be all style and no substance.

PhantomStranger

Don't forget the giant spider, it had to have a giant spider.

hanshotfirst1138

You have way too much access to the Discovery Channel.

Why So Blu?

They saved the giant spider for Wild Wild West. That film bombed.

EddieMoney

This documentary was entirely amateur hour. Pretty shitty for sure.

Sonny Corinthos

Nicolas Cage insists his 'Superman Lives' 'would have been beautiful'.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/nicolas-ca...191455869.html

stingermck

In your mind!

fumanstan

The way Superman has been handled the last decade, couldn't have been that bad right?

Michael Corvin

If Superman Lives took place in a universe where the title character wasn't reviled it already has a leg up on Snyderverse.

PhantomStranger

Now that Man of Steel has been made, I have much warmer feelings to what Superman Lives could have been. I'm guessing that the studio would have reined in some of Burton's crazier ideas if the movie was actually going to be released.

james2025a

I am not so sure. This is around the time of Mars Attacks and i remember being really excited to watch that movie and when i did i was massively disappointed. Sure it had a couple of good laughs and the design and effects were good, but its pretty damn boring and not memorable at all. Cage just doesnt have the Superman look at all. I liked some of the concept ideas they had, but it seemed like they were going to have a number of head scratching moments as well.

brayzie

I liked Man of Steel.
From reading about Superman Lives it sounds pretty bad. Nicolas Cage is totally wrong for Superman.