The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
07-25-14 | 09:59 AM
#1
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The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
THE STORY
The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? is a Feature Length Documentary about the unmade movie "Superman Lives". 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 bonafide Cult Classic nowadays. 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!!!
I’ve been interested in this film since it was first announced back in the late 90’s. Nicolas Cage was announced as Superman, Kevin Smith was announced as the Writer, Tim Burton was announced as the Director, and fans have had very heavy opinions, both positive and negative, on all of this. As news slowly bubbled out, news buzzed around about Rainbow Robot Outfits, Brainiac Skull ships, Superman not "flying", Fighting a Giant Spider, Polar Bears guarding the Fortress of Solitude. It all sounded so crazy, so weird, so different, that I honestly was hoping that they would actually make it, just so we would have something different from what had come before. It never happened. Cut to almost 15 years later, and I really wish I could slap that “Superman Lives” disc into my player, and watch this guaranteed weird, strange, and original new take on the mythology of the Superman character. By this time, whether it was a success or failure at the box office, It would have for sure been a cult classic, due mainly to its inspired casting, and its tremendous bravery in it’s attempt to merge toy sales with the weirdness.
The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? is a Feature Length Documentary about the unmade movie "Superman Lives". 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 bonafide Cult Classic nowadays. 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!!!
I’ve been interested in this film since it was first announced back in the late 90’s. Nicolas Cage was announced as Superman, Kevin Smith was announced as the Writer, Tim Burton was announced as the Director, and fans have had very heavy opinions, both positive and negative, on all of this. As news slowly bubbled out, news buzzed around about Rainbow Robot Outfits, Brainiac Skull ships, Superman not "flying", Fighting a Giant Spider, Polar Bears guarding the Fortress of Solitude. It all sounded so crazy, so weird, so different, that I honestly was hoping that they would actually make it, just so we would have something different from what had come before. It never happened. Cut to almost 15 years later, and I really wish I could slap that “Superman Lives” disc into my player, and watch this guaranteed weird, strange, and original new take on the mythology of the Superman character. By this time, whether it was a success or failure at the box office, It would have for sure been a cult classic, due mainly to its inspired casting, and its tremendous bravery in it’s attempt to merge toy sales with the weirdness.
They are also looking for funds for post-production costs here: http://supportsupermanlives.com/
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Nt9fxWq5qg0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Last edited by dex14; 07-25-14 at 10:23 AM.
07-25-14 | 10:11 AM
#2
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
I would not watch Nic Cage as Superman. Come on. That is some hubris there on his part.
07-25-14 | 10:57 AM
#4
Banned by request
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
I think I remember saying the same thing about seeing a Sam Raimi Spiderman movie. Burton is a bit more out there, but I would have been curious to see his vision of Superman, even with Cage playing the role.
07-25-14 | 11:32 AM
#5
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
I've been interested in this project since Smith told his story about it in one of his specials. I'll check it out once it gets released.
07-25-14 | 12:10 PM
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Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
This is probably going to get "mythos" status of what the film could've been like similar to Jodorowsky's Dune.
07-25-14 | 12:14 PM
#7
07-25-14 | 12:20 PM
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From: Somewhere between Heaven and Hell
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
It's not complete unless they can get Jon Peters to comment.
07-25-14 | 12:28 PM
#9
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
Tempted to donate to this but $25 just for a credit is sorta crap. I'd want to get at least the Blu-ray but not sure I want to throw $60 at it. I'll think about it.
07-25-14 | 12:41 PM
#12
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
That was just a bad photoshop using an action figure. That photo was debunked years ago.
EDIT: Looking at the trailer, not fake after all.
EDIT: Looking at the trailer, not fake after all.
Last edited by RocShemp; 07-25-14 at 12:55 PM.
07-25-14 | 12:45 PM
#13
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
Cage's hair looked goofy as shit. 
07-25-14 | 12:56 PM
#14
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
Agreed, i'm really interested in seeing this especially after Smith's talk about it, but the tiers aren't particularly good. Seems like everything should be bumped down a tier so that you get at least a digital copy for $25.
07-25-14 | 12:57 PM
#15
07-25-14 | 01:02 PM
#16
Thread Starter
Moderator
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
Email the guy and suggest that to him. It'll probably bring in more money if you had a sweet $25 level. $10 should be the credit... and he should have a $1 option as well. He could probably reach his goal this weekend if enough marketing is done at Comic Con.
Last edited by dex14; 07-25-14 at 01:10 PM.
07-25-14 | 01:04 PM
#17
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
Someone at Warner finally wised up when they started seeing the screen tests with Cage as Superman. They decided to pay off the millions instead of actually going through with the project, which tells you all you need to know about the potential of this supposed cult classic. I read a couple of the scripts, they did nothing for me as a lifelong fan of Superman and his movies. It's the one time someone in Hollywood made the right decision when it cost them millions.
07-25-14 | 01:13 PM
#18
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
I'm not going to donate a cent to this project, but I'm still very interested to see it.
07-25-14 | 01:36 PM
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Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
07-25-14 | 06:03 PM
#21
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
Last edited by Mr. Salty; 07-25-14 at 06:23 PM.
07-25-14 | 06:11 PM
#22
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
Here's another shot from the trailer:
07-25-14 | 06:14 PM
#23
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
And it seems they did another suit with more muscle definition and a different S shield:
07-25-14 | 07:18 PM
#25
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? (2014, D: Jon Schnepp)
I did notice in that trailer that there's artwork of Brainiac as a big freakin' mechanical spider. There's your Jon Peters input right there. 