Documentary Showcase: The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?

 

        Picture this, Nicolas Cage as Superman. Or Tim Burton directing a Superman movie. Two people who you would not expect to don the big red ‘S’ and another having a filmography focusing on dark macabre imagery directing the most idealistic hero in pop culture. Superman Lives could have been a great movie or a bad one. This documentary focuses on the making of and fall of an ambitious take on the man of steel. Since this is the first time I have reviewed a documentary, I’m mostly going to talk about the main ideas of it and not divulge on the overall aspect of it. 

1. Death of Superman

        The whole framing story of the film was to be loosely based on the storyline “The Death of Superman”. Director Kevin Smith was brought on to do his version of what Warner Bros. had wanted to do with Superman. He mostly based it on the Superman story line and it managed to win over the execs. Eventually he was let go from the production due to director Tim Burton wanting to do his version of the film, but being told to keep aspect of Smith’s script. 

        The  making of part of seeing the death of Superman play out was really intriguing due to the number of concept art they had. Many artists were brought in to design the fight between the villain Doomsday against Superman. It would be years later through animation that the fight and story line was to be adapted. I feel that it would have worked since it was in the public conscious since it was news that DC Comics had decided to kill off their cash cow.

        Also, the resurrection of the hero was indeed intriguing due to having a companion helping Superman be reborn. The art I believe was the main highlight, especially the costume test of how Nicolas Cage would look like as the man of tomorrow. I’ll delve more on the what if aspect since it’s the main idea of the documentary.

2. Jon Peters

        This producer is something else. The documentary touches on how exactly he got work in Hollywood. By being a hair stylist for Barbara Streisand and being associated with award winning films. The first time I have heard of him is when Kevin Smith was talking about his time working on Superman Lives. It may have hampered my experience with seeing the film since his description of Jon Peters is exactly what I saw. 

        Just how the production crew talks about him, Peters comes across as a literal asshole. Such as when he has an artist in a headlock to show off his guests. His overall thought process was odd since Smith, described that the producer didn’t want Superman to fly, wear his suit, and having to fight a giant spider creature. Jon had an idea of wanting Nic Cage in the film since he wanted the casting to be something people didn’t expect. For instance, he picked Michael Keaton as Batman when everyone complained about the move. Now, he’s a beloved Batman actor. 

        With how the movie never happening, he may be entirely to blame. Peters wanted the film to be grand in scale and to be a very out there film in terms of dealing with the psychology of Superman. Tim Burton also wanted to tackle with that angle since his entire filmography grappled with that theme. Overall, his personality and thought process with the film was one of the reasons why we will never see Nicolas Cage be the caped hero. And no, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies doesn’t count since Nic Cage voiced Superman. 

3. What If?

        What enticed me to watch it was the whole what if angle the documentary was going for. The late director Jon Schnepp had everyone involved give their account on how the production went before the premature cancellation. The only downside was him being the one to be next to the writers, artists, and designers which felt like him self inserting for ego. Just them giving their voice of what happened was enough. 

        There are only glimpses of what the film could’ve been just through the many art, costume test and Tim Burton along with Nicolas Cage figuring out how to make their ideal Superman. The documentary does include the interconnected reasons as to why the film was cancelled but it squarely rested on Warner Bros. Studio. I won’t go into detail the reasons as to why, but if you watch it, you can’t really blame them for pulling the plug.

        In my own opinion, had the film been made, it would’ve been interesting since we’ve never seen a film go in depth psychologically about Superman. We do see it in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, but it was an unmitigated turd. Like Nicolas Cage could’ve been a good Superman but it may conflict with how people perceive the hero as a chiseled hero and not a person who you would never really think of. 

4. Overall

        This type of documentary is very interesting to me since it deals with the making of a cancelled film and highlights the bureaucracy of Hollywood. I feel that it’s a must see for comic book fans and for curious people who want to see the making of a Nicolas Cage film. More so on how people who want to see the background thinking of how Hollywood works in terms of making or cancelling a film. The entire production team are the stars as well as the art to make an interesting Superman film. 

        Death of ‘Superman Lives’: What Happened? gets a four out of five.