Forget Kryptonite. Forget Lex Luthor. Two Israeli Cousins Take Down ‘The Man of Steel’ In SUPERMAN IV.
Does The Lord fear Kryptonite? Or did he make it?
I’m really not trying to be blasphemous. Although, to be clear, I don’t believe ‘blasphemy’ is a rational term. You can’t speak profanely about God or any divine concepts, since God is an imaginary friend for grown-ups. Therefore, every comment about Our Lord is itself … playing make-believe. I will get to our bizarre odyssey writing the script for SUPERMAN IV in a moment, but stay with me for one sec.
The main argument against the existence of God is usually based on the question of Evil. If we define a Supreme Being as both omnipotent and benevolent, how do we explain why there is such terrible ‘evil’ in the world. (Putin’s slaughter in Ukraine, for example.) If God is benevolent, which means unwaveringly Good, then why would He/She/It allow such Evil in the world? When I debate the existence of God, my first response is always, ‘Hey, I have two words for you: Pediatric Oncology.’ A God who gives brain cancer to 4-year-olds is not benevolent. Then again, if God is unable to control Evil; if He/She/It) doesn’t have the power to stop a child’s cancer; if Satan is in an everlasting duel with God, then God is not omnipotent (meaning ‘All-powerful, able to do anything’). It leads, then, to the question — why doesn’t God just kill Satan? (Or your preferred demonic force!) Got it? …
Now, about the phone call from Christopher Reeve.
In 1985, I spoke to Christopher Reeve about trying one more Superman sequel — motivated by the fact that Chris felt the third Superman movie was pretty, pretty terrible. Both ridiculed and a box office dud. For some reason, Warner Bros. thought adding the brilliant, if idiosyncratic, Richard Pryor to the franchise would … hmm, not exactly sure what they thought! I assume expand what was already an enormous audience. The first two movies of this O.G. big-budget, special effects heavy franchise were damn fun and generated monster box office, all under the watchful eye of legendary director Richard Donner, who began doing iconic TV including The Twilight Zone. Superman I and II were charming and witty with an engaging cast including Gene Hackman, Margo Kidder, and Jackie Cooper. Superman III was a cynical failure on so many levels it alienated the entire cast who swore they’d never do another! The movie failed in every way and left Chris saddened and resentful. After all, I have no problem saying that Christopher Reeve was the perfect Superman — it’s hard to find an actor who fit an ‘imaginary’ role better!
Because we had already done a sequel (The Jewel of the Nile; cf. my essay) we hesitated for one second. But not two! One of the things I learned in my early days of screenwriting is that most writers work on projects that never get made. Sure, you come to Hollywood inspired by your love of serious movies, dramatic movies, important movies! Then you discover that at least half your remuneration is based on a ‘Production Bonus’ — meaning the film is actually shot (and you receive some credit — a whole other issue!). My writing partner was not even interested in comic book films (or horror or sci-fi) but knew that this was a big paycheck. I, on the other hand, grew up in Philadelphia spending every penny I had on comics and specifically DC comics. I was not a Marvel guy. Granted their stories tended to be more sophisticated, but I just couldn’t stand the pallid coloring. Bright and vivid, DC to me was more magical. Especially Green Lantern and Batman. On the call, Christopher Reeve said he had a big idea for a new Superman movie that could restore the franchise. It was enormously exciting for me to go to New York and meet him at his amazing Upper West Side apartment.
One of the unexpected and wonderful things that Hollywood gives you — in return for often breaking your heart! — are deliriously fun moments like taking a walk down Columbus Avenue with Christopher Reeve to get something to eat. That walk, about eight blocks, was one of my first experiences of what it’s like to be in public with a movie star who can’t possibly hide. Chris was actually better looking in person than even on film. Relaxed, funny, a big broad-shouldered guy with an ebullient personality. Every few steps we were stopped by people and Chris was unfailingly kind, attentive to anyone who wanted an autograph, handshake, or just a personal moment. Over lunch, he told me that he was determined to ‘get my cast back’ for a new Superman film and thought his ‘big’ idea might do it.
And now, remember what I said about ‘omnipotent and benevolent’?
Chris told me that there was an essential issue that the concept of Superman, not just the movies but the comics, too, always had to avoid: and that is simply: if Superman is indeed a force like no other on the planet, faster than a speeding bullet; if he literally is indestructible, then why doesn’t he bring peace to the world? Just stand up and say, ‘I will no longer allow you to fight wars, invade countries, pollute, etc. and if you try, I’ll simply come there and destroy your armies.’ This is the third rail of most superhero stories. Just like the argument of ‘Evil’ in the debate if God really exists. Chris thought it was time to confront this issue once and for all. He wanted us to write a script that would entice the other actors to return. I can’t emphasize enough what a charming, erudite and down-to-earth guy Chris was. Shortly after, Lawrence Konner and I went off to work on the script.
We wanted to establish the original characters again, especially keeping Gene Hackman’s wonderful gift for humor, so we stuck Lex Luthor on a chain gang in the South, which we thought would be amusing since, of course, he didn’t really do any work on the road. Luring Gene Hackman back was task number 1. We also had to make sure Margo Kidder (Lois Lane) had a solid role. In addition, we were asked to add new characters for the 4th film, which were eventually played by Jon Cryer and Mariel Hemingway. Chris’ idea was that Superman is challenged by a young boy to go to the United Nations and declare Peace on Earth. In the meantime, Lex Luthor escapes from the chain gang. Since New York City was our setting, we decided to put Lex Luthor’s new ‘lair’ at very top of the Empire State building (the Twin Towers didn’t have the historical significance, yet).
Quickly, everyone loved the script. (Not Jeanette Kahn, the President of D.C. who wrote us a very insulting note. But I don’t think she was ever going to like anything we did.) The cast all agreed to return. And Warner Bros. gave us the green light.
And then the Lord intervened! Had to be Himself because everything that could go wrong, went wrong.
I’ve been involved in several projects where a producer or a studio had to make a decision between two directors or two actors — often sealing the fate of a film. (I will write about For Love Or Money later where the choice was Nicholas Cage who had just won the Academy Award for Leaving Las Vegas, or Michael J. Fox.) This time Chris called and said the studio was trying to decide between Wes Craven, the universally admired and prolific filmmaker who all but invented the modern horror genre with films like A Nightmare On Elm St. and The Hills Have Eyes; or Sidney Furie, known for directing the spy film The Ipcress File with Michael Caine and The Boys In Company C, a Vietnam war movie. We told Chris that Wes Craven was an inspired choice. He would bring a very edgy tone to the franchise that might excite the audience. We also had a meeting with Sidney. He started the meeting by volunteering that he didn’t like comic books — let alone comic book movies. He was doing it for the paycheck. He was a nice enough guy, but he had zero passion for the project and indeed a bit of contempt for it. Lawrence and I had a running joke because Sidney would never pick up the tab at the restaurant whenever we met over a meal, but he would take a copy of the receipt to turn in as an expense. Not a great sign!
The studio chose Sidney. But that was overshadowed by the bombshell that was dropped — all the way from Israel!
Canon Films was the American outpost of two cousins from Israel, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. It had developed a golden touch by focusing on ‘B’ films. Basement budget, heavy-handed, genre-tight, lower than low-brow. They had dominated Israel‘s film business and then stumbled into a hit in the 1970s with a movie called Joe, with Peter Boyle, the tap-dancing monster in Young Frankenstein, and the very young and very beautiful Susan Sarandon, a film that ended with carnage like a good ‘B’ movie should. They doubled down doing what they always did — making sequels or rip-offs of successful films, always going into production before the film was ready. They had a big hit with Death Wish II. Ripped off the hit soft-core Porky’s with The Last American Virgin, let Rambo ‘suggest’ Invasion USA. They bought a big office building on San Vicente Blvd., where they made the fatal mistake that violated their own formula by throwing big money into films despite their yahoo, vulgarian tastes. Sahara with Brooke Shields was a ridiculous mash-up of films like The Blue Lagoon and Lawrence of Arabia! They even paid Faye Dunaway to do a topless sequence and made a Hercules with what was then called ‘the worst effects in movie history.’
And then they bought the rights to make the Superman III sequel.
We didn’t know what to think when we were told by our agent to meet with the cousins over lunch in their offices, but we went. Um, the phrase ‘You are what you eat,’ comes to mind. We were invited into a small room with a cheap table. Loud and barrel-chested Menahem set out Styrofoam cups of potato salad and coleslaw with plastic spoons shoved in them like Arthur’s sword in the stone. There were a few thin deli sandwiches. Stack of paper plates. My appetite disappeared as quickly as Menahem’s soared. They had acquired the rights to Superman. Yet, they showed no curiosity about the new script or the story. They just told us they were going to make it and then Menahem spent the rest of the meeting boasting how he paid $20 million to secure Sylvester Stallone in Over The Top which Menahem was directing himself. In many ways they were charming rogues, with more than a touch of those ‘wild and crazy guys’ played by Dan Ackroyd and Steve Martin on Saturday Night Live.
Soon, Lawrence went to London for the shoot. I stayed back because we were working on another film. I quickly began to hear the scope of the disaster from his international phone calls. Canon was hemorrhaging money and started frantically slashing the film’s budget. The English special effects department which had done all the previous Superman films was fired and the shoot collapsed into the muddy hole where all ‘B’ Cannon films remain hidden till this day. Sidney Furie didn’t care either way. He just started rushing to finish and escape. No one was paying attention to the script or the dailies. We believed we actually had a fun third act. Remember, this was a movie that was supposed to be about ‘peace.’ We had Lex Luthor triggering a panic in New York from lying about an imminent nuclear war tricking everyone to escape the city. Lex then proceeded to loot Manhattan. Wheeling a shopping cart of Old Masters from the Met and jewels from Tiffany’s. It was for us a bit of a call back to those eerie sci-fi movies where someone wakes up to find their city is deserted. That was scrapped instead for what was a minor character called ‘Nuclear Man’ cloned by Lex Luthor as a bodyguard. We intended Chris Reeve to play this role, too. Instead, Cannon cast an actor who looked like the lead in a San Fernando Valley porno film. Nuclear Man now became the main antagonist which reduced Gene Hackman’s role — and this was madness. One ironclad rule during Hackman’s lifetime: the more screentime he had, the better your film was. Another one of the things we were excited about in the script was our idea for a ‘double date’ sequence where both Superman and Clark Kent are coerced into going out together with Margo Kidder and Mariel Hemingway. We wanted a ‘French farce’ — with Superman using his super-speed to just barely come in and out of rooms to pull it off. A lot of door slamming, popping out the window and flying in again. Furie kind of got it but it was both shortened and not quite as deft as we hoped. — In the end, the film imploded. And it helped kill Cannon films.
And the perfect coda? Months later we received a summons for a deposition because Chris was being sued by someone accusing him of stealing the idea for the film! This guy had gotten Chris’ phone number and left a message, in those days of answering machines, that said, ‘Hi, Chris! I have an idea for a new Superman movie. What if Superman brings world peace?’ The problem was Chris saved it on his voicemail! After we were deposed, we heard about some settlement and the suit was dropped. But it was heart-rending when I considered how hard Chris had worked to get the franchise on the right track again and how the studios, Warner’s and Cannon, sabotaged him. I spoke to him a few times after that — he called me to see if I could lobby the director of our remake of Desperate Hours to cast him. But then the director was fired, and then we were fired — and that film dissolved into a mess. Another tale!
And then, of course, Chris suffered his tragic accident during a 3-day horse eventing competition. While the film remains a sad experience overall, knowing Christopher Reeve was a great gift. For my entire career I’ve said that only once in a while do you meet a star who is exactly who you hoped he/she would be. For me it was Sean Connery, Michael Douglas — and Christopher Reeve. I often think of walking with Chris on the Upper West Side, chatting away, while the little kid inside me from Philadelphia was dancing, remembering how he’d walk in the brutally humid summer heat of the city to our corner drugstore to buy the newest DC comics for $.10 an issue. Then hurry home to lay on the floor beneath our one window air conditioner in our tiny rowhouse and lose himself in the DC universe. And while Superman, like God, doesn’t really exist and can’t bring ‘peace to the world’, comic books always brought their own peace to that boy, at least for a while. And so did knowing Chris Reeve.