The producers finally approached the tried and trusted Newman team to pen the film, "A lot of their ideas remained in 1 and 2 [following Mankiewicz’s re-writes] and I liked working with them. They were an archive of Superman material - an encyclopaedia."

The film shifted location filming for Metroplois from New York to its doppelganger, in skyscraper architecture, of course.
"Calgary was like N.Y. and the wheat fields were blooming. It wasn't cheaper, though. DC approved it; we have to check with them for everything we do."

One of my favourite moments from the film is the picnic scene, where Clark is playing his true self, Kal-El. The dialogue rings true, if only for a minor moment.

"Absolutely, it's a great moment, but I wish we had deepened the Clark and Lana relationship."

Did Christopher Reeve and Richard Pryor get along? "Okay, Chris was a little annoyed that Richard was getting 4 million and he was getting only 2 mil. Typical studio mistake. Chris wasn't involved with the script but he created the characters in the film. He was the best Superman in number 3. He was unbelievably big."

Speaking of Chris, I noted that "It's weird but with Chris gone, a part of my childhood doesn't exist. I think back to when I was watching Supes as a kid and these guys were still alive, now when I watch it, Chris, the technicians, they are not around anymore, it's kinda weird when you think about it."

"I was at Chris's memorial; Robin [Williams, a lifelong close friend of Christopher Reeve] made a joke, just one, that Chris always got the girls but he didn't. He gave a beautiful speech, ending with the Hamlet quote, 'Sleep little prince.'"

Robin Williams even visited Pinewood's 007 stage during production, "We lost an afternoon because Robin was so funny. I wasn't there; I was stuck in an office all afternoon doing paperwork."

What was Richard Pryor like?

"Pierre and I escorted him to and from the set. He was treated like royalty. He had an entourage."

"Really? I thought he was a Christian Bale; did you know he turns up to interview on his own, without any fuss?"

"No, but Richard had a big entourage looking after him. The first four weeks with him, we got on impeccably well. The next 4 weeks he changed, probably because he was doing stuff, he became irritable, but he did his job. Lester didn't really direct him; Pryor knew what he had to do."

Ilya is especially proud of Gus Gorman saving Superman at the end of the film, "It's two aliens coming together. Think about it. There were still [legal] issues in some states, maybe one, I can't remember, with African Americans in 1983."

Fans have disapproved of Lester's tendency to include comedic set pieces, and the film's tone is established immediately on the streets of Metropolis, "I fought against the opening, but I relented when Lester said the comedy was different. I didn't fight hard enough, though. I hate the domino effect - it's like Otis in Grand Central station, it's too much."

With filming in full swing, Ilya was hard at work on prepping Supergirl, "I gave too much free reign to Lester. I was on the set often, but I wasn't on the ball because I was looking at rushes from three films. I was looking at Superman III, Supergirl and my mother's picture, Where is Parsifal. I helped out on my mother's movie for no credit. Orson Welles, Donald Pleasance and Tony Curtis are in it. My father produced the movies for her to keep her happy."

One moment in the film which bothers the avuncular producer is the lengthy monologue about chemicals, "The hero should always be in action - Superman's there, with his arms folded. I wasn't there at the filming and I didn't fight it. I was tired by then."

Two other scenes which have caused ripples of discontent among fans is the boxing match between the red and green traffic signals and Gus leaping off the skyscraper, on skis. Ilya offers a very philosophical view, "I kinda like it. Nobody knows what machines were capable of. Viruses today are very clever. The skis was over the top. Maybe we should've done something different."

What was Pierre Spengler’s role in the film?

"Pierre deals with the administration and the technical stuff. He's good at that side of things."

And what about Ilya?

"I'm the boss - top of the food chain. Of course I'm a little creative and do some of what Pierre does. All decisions went through me and my dad. Being a producer is like a general in the army. We can't get too personal with the people who work for us because you become a little soft. A general doesn't have dinner with his privates. The Producer is about authority, you’ve either got it or you haven't. You need to be tough otherwise they will run rings around you. It's like doctors. They can't get close to their patients. A surgeon friend of mine had dinner with me once and he told me he performed surgery on this guy but he eventually died. My friend was devastated. You can't get too close."

Ilya's belief is that Superman III’s box office suffered because of a certain demographic not coming back for more.

"We lost repeats because the kids might have been scared of the cyborg. By the way, we did the cyborg thing first, before Terminator. The kids were also puzzled by the malevolent Superman. Why is Superman mean? If we had Brainiac controlling Superman's personality, it might have been different."

Superman III opened with a 13.5 million weekend and it beat Bond, with a final total of around 60 million; the film was the fifth highest grossing picture of the year. The final budget was around 40 million. The box office gross wasn't too shabby, but certainly below expectations.

"I'm proud of the film. It could have been better, though. The reviews are getting better - people see it's a different film from 1 and 2."

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