|
|
|
SUPERMAN II - MEDIA Starburst Issue 8 - April 1979 Superman II - Sequel Chaos! Okay, it's time certain questions were being asked. And answered. 1: Is Superman 2 really only going to be Superman 1 1/2... or, at best, 1 3/4? 2: Are the Salkinds thinking that $50,000,000 is enough to spend on two movies and well, let's shove out what we've got of No 2, as it is, unfinished, ready or not and who gives a damn anyway? It's beginning to look that way. This appears to be the wholly mercenary thinking behind director Richard Donner screaming for a start-date on shooting the rest of No 2. He says he needed the go-ahead by March - else there wouldn't be a Superman 2, at all. Or not as good as it should be. Dick Donner is worried, not to say annoyed - and if rumour is correct, allegedly unpaid. He feels any delay in an official go-ahead to finish the sequel, with him firmly in the driver's seat, will lose him several key special effects men from his team. He has, tragically, lost two already; fatally - cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth and mattes-composites expert Les Bowie. He's trying hard to keep hold of Peter MacDonald, who was Unsworth's camera operator for fifteen years, but fears the rest will be snapped up by the brace of other top sf films afoot in London - George Lucas' The Empire Strikes Back and Dino de Laurentiis' Flash Gordon. Dino, in particular, is known to be after cameramen MacDonald and Denys Coop, special effects technicians Roy Field and Derek Meddings and editor Stuart Baird. And now that he's quit directing Saturn 3, Superman production designer John Barry is freely available again. Donner says he needs them all. But nobody - no Salkind, that is, seems to be listening. Add to that, the news that Margot Kidder has just signed for her second movie since Superman, that Christopher Reeve is about to start a new film, that Pinewood, like most British studios is getting all its stages booked up for a year, and that Marion Brando is suing everyone in sight - and you begin to understand that the fate of Superman 2 is less than certain. In various statements from America, where he is staying until he has a deal finalised for the sequel, Dick Donner says he wants a start date, and that he also wants Alexander and llya Salkind to negotiate with him - if they want him on the film. "That means no games," demands Donner. "They have to want me to do it. It has to be on my terms and I don't mean financially. I mean control." The question is, of course, where are the Salkinds? Alexander's official address would appear to be c/o The Costa Rican Embassy, in Berne, Switzerland. He doesn't live there, of course. He is, we understand, currently residing in Mexico. Ilya Salkind is, or was, still based at Pinewood studios last time I tried to contact him. But he wasn't in and could I call back in two weeks - "one week?" - and he'd be pleased to talk with me. According to Donner, about three-quarters of Superman 2 is in the can. This was shot during the schedule of the first film. The two films were, in fact, being made as one, rather like the Salkinds' two Three Musketeers movies. But as time for the Superman premiere drew nearer, and nearer, shooting on 2 was halted, in order to complete 1 on time. It now seems more than likely, that this 75% of Superman 2 will become the 100% total of Superman 2. Quite naturally, Dick Donner wants to get on and finish the job. Witnessing the world's response to the first film, he's found a whole new approach to the sequel's conclusion. "As far as I'm concerned," he has stated, "this is the easiest continuation in the world, the most incredible opportunity of a lifetime to incorporate the public's input into a second film." He figures on about eight weeks shooting being required, plus months of special effects post-production "more difficult because we'll be challenging ourselves." The sequel footage requires locations, apparently, in New York, Canada, and Niagara Falls, where, like it or not Supie fans, Clark Kent and Lois Lane have "a sort of honeymoon" and she finds out who ole mild manners really is. Having got rid of all the Superman origin stuff in the first film, Donner feels the next one "can spend two hours breaking new ground". The plot has the three banished villains - Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran - being inadvertently freed by Superman. They come to earth via the moon and Donner hopes Gene Hackman would agree to enlarge his Lex Luthor role into becoming the trio's agent for various and obviously nefarious foul deeds in our world. The sequel, adds Donner, is a charming story. "I'd love to see this thing go on and on ... I can't think of a more appropriate story to spin future films off of." Superman Meets Luke Skywalker, perhaps ? "But I won't be part of it past the second film," declares Donner. "I've worked seven days a week on this film for two years. I feel I've fulfilled my part." Now he'd just like to get on and finish it. Properly! If he doesn't get the chance, the blame will lie with the Salkinds. Not Warner Brothers. The Hollywood combine is merely releasing the film for the Salkind's distribution company, Film Export. And it is the Salkinds who hire, fire and pay the cast and crew. Admittedly, Warner Brothers has helped them pay their bills - by investing up to $37,000,000 into Superman. More than enough, as far as the Hollywood company is concerned. They'll need to see the film earn $80,000,000 before they're into any profit at all. The word from Film City is that Superman will pull in around $75,000,000 in the United States and Canada, where it's begun to catch The Exorcist as Warner's top grossing film, and already putting The Goodbye Girl and A Star Is Born into the shade. Any actual profit, though, will have to come from the rest of the world. And it's already doing well in Britain, West Germany and France, although one French critic referred to the superhero as "a giant sculpted in lard." Richard Donner says the cost of the two films (or one and a half) must be around $50,000,000 - with up to $30,000,000 spent on Superman 1. "There's no way it could have cost more unless someone's got a suitcase hidden somewhere."
|
|
