Now the rights were secured, they could find the talent to make it happen. "People think we were obsessed about money, of course we had to make money to finance the movies but we always set out to find the very best people to work with." Superman: The Movie probably had one of the very best crews in the history of film, working at the top of their game under pressure to deliver a kind of film that had never been made before. Ilya continues, "On Superman II, we flew to St. Lucia!" I, along with many others have wondered why they even travelled to St. Lucia, for barely a minute's worth of footage (of Superman picking a flower for Lois), which could have been filmed on the Pinewood stage, or even in Spain! On the Musketeer films they had an awesome cast to work with, male legends and the top leading ladies. One can't dispute that they didn't aim to land the crème de la crème of Hollywood.

Alfred Bester was in the running to write the screenplays. Alfred wrote for DC Comics and eventually became a celebrated Sci-Fi writer. Ilya notes, "Me and my father wanted to get away from the comic book confines, we felt the 1966 Batman camp television show was too much of a stigma." Alfred was reportedly devastated upon hearing that he would not, after all, be asked to write a screenplay for a Superman feature.

Ultimately, the producers decided to seek a top screenwriter, and in the 70s, William Goldman was top of the pile. They set up a meeting in the Plaza hotel, NY. All glitz and glamour, maybe they tried to hard to impress. Bill declined –he apparently didn't have a feel for the story. They toned down the glitz when Mario Puzo came to see them, just as well because Mario came in wearing tatty jeans and a T-shirt. Pierre, Ilya and Mario flew to Las Vegas to figure out the story.

The talented novelist and I highly recommend his FLASHMAN books, George Macdonald Fraser ran through the script after Puzo finished. He was joined by Norman Enfield. They added bits here and there, especially the Krypton trial. Norman Enfield AKA Norman Eisenfeld was a friend of the family. A dashing ladies man who had a relationship with Ilya's mother. He's currently missing in action with MS.

So they had a script, now they needed a star. Agent, Kurt Frinks called Ilya, "I can get Marlon." Ilya didn't believe him! Kurt came back. Ilya offered 2.75 million but Kurt wanted more. Ilya dashed to his father's bedroom asking for permission to push the boat out. Alex nodded in approval; Ilya upped the offer to 3.7 million and 11.3% of the box-office gross. I asked Ilya if he paid over the odds, "No", he said firmly, "No Marlon, no movie." It was the golden ticket they needed to summon the world's attention that they were serious, crazy but resolutely serious. We are talking 11.3% for each film, a potential 40 million dollar cake for the legendary actor.

For the coveted villain role, Dustin Hoffman was sought for the role of Lex! Ilya feels that Christopher Walken would've made a great Lex Luthor.

Once Marlon was onboard, Gene Hackman came to them!

"Wait a minute, Gene came to you?"

"Absolutely, he heard Marlon was in the film."

When Richard Donner came on board (You know the story), they decided that the film shouldn't be retro, it must be set in the present time. "We had to part with the original English designer," remembered Ilya. That designer’s name was Michael Stringer, and he had been part of (original) director Guy Hamilton’s crew from the outset.

Ilya Salkind wasn't worried about the script in-jokes, Telly Savalas, "Who loves ya baby?" and Lex eating Kleenex -- David Newman's agent ate Kleenex, but it was a joke not intended for the film. Donner brings up the camp element constantly when he attacks the Salkinds, but Ilya responds that a lot of the finished shooting script is still word-for-word written by the Newmans. "Mankiewicz brought good ideas to the script, but so did the Newmans, I was reading it the other day, a lot of it is the same." He continues "We were so involved with other aspects of making the film that those in-jokes were farthest from our minds, we never set out to make a camp film. We wanted to preserve the legend."

Skye Aubrey, Ilya's wife, wanted the role of Eve, "I felt that she wouldn't be good in the role, so I offered her Lara. Dick agreed. In the end we decided being the producer's wife and all, it wasn't a good idea. But she did appear in a couple of Superboy episodes."

At this stage, I guess it was early 1977, whilst I was just days old, they still needed the biggie, SUPERMAN. Dick and Ilya met many actors, including Neil Diamond! Ilya pointed out a thread on the message board, the one about Brandon looking like Neil. "Me and Donner chatted with Neil Diamond for three hours." Ilya did the majority of the casting. It was his idea to get a British ensemble for Krypton. Lynn Stalmaster focused on Superman and Lois.

Even though they had Marlon, they hadn't actually met him, so Ilya, Dick and Tom flew to L.A. They waited and waited. They were tearing their hair out, they needed to see Marlon for wardrobe but he couldn't be reached. They were on the verge of returning to England when they got the call. "We got to Marlon's house in Mankie's car, I think it was a Porsche, he and Jack Nicholson were neighbours, they shared the same gate. We waited in his library/study room facing the door, waiting for Marlon. The place was immaculate and organised. We waited...and waited...and waited. An hour later, a voice from behind! It was Marlon", an understated entrance to say the least.

Ilya in Marlon's famous mumble, "‘I’ve read the script, I'd like to play him as a green bagel.’" Ilya flipped. "We're f**ked. Tom and I were getting nervous, but Dick stayed calm." Marlon continued, "Maybe play him as a green suitcase". Ilya was now desperate, "I was hitting Dick's legs, just say yes but Dick didn't move." Marlon finished with, "It would give the film poetic license, Dick." There was silence, then Donner said, "We want Marlon Brando to play Jor-El." I asked if Marlon took the film seriously, "Absolutely, he was God-like on the set."

Click Here to read a soaring quote sent to all production staff

With the prospect of 3D being the next big step in cinema, the producers and Warner Bros. were interested in doing a holographic image of Jor-El back in 1977; When Jor-El's face becomes crystallised, the head was supposed to fly from the rear of the auditorium to the screen. The idea was eventually scrapped.

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