Superman II : Whose Sequel is it anyway?

INTRODUCTION

Those familiar with the filming of Superman II are already aware that some of the scenes were filmed by Richard Donner (uncredited) in 1977 while others were filmed by Richard Lester in 1979 and early 1980. For more details on Donner's missing scenes etc. click here. Although many of these scenes are rather obvious which are which, others are very subtle and not easily determined. Fortunately, the 1979 revised shooting script for Superman II contains scene-by-scene descriptions, tagging those which were already filmed in 1977, and those which were new to film in 1979. In addition, there were 1977 scenes filmed by Donner which were modified in 1979 with voice-overs, intercutting with new footage, etc. While most of these scenes made it to the theatrical release, some were cut and can only be seen in the ABC, Canadian and International extended versions. Finally, some scenes were called out in the script that were not found in any release of the film. The purpose of this report is to identify all of these variations, on a scene by scene basis if necessary. Misspellings or grammatical errors found in the script text are intentional, as Jon Hoyle has cited the original source as is.

DONNER ON S2

"My original [Superman] contract was to deliver two films," director Richard Donner told Starlog in 1989, "so therefore everybody who signed was told that they were doing two films. We started both and shot everything with Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty and Valerie Perrine for both pictures, and then we realised that if we were going to deliver the first one by Christmas, we had to stop and put all our efforts into that. Having completed everything with those actors, we put Superman II on the side and put all our efforts into the first film.

"Things got so bad between the producers and I," Donner continued in a voice 'laced with disappointment, not bitterness,' "that they wanted an arbiter, and they suggested [director] Dick Lester. I knew Dick, so it was just wonderful." Lester had directed The Musketeers films, another Salkind production that had had its share of problems. (In fact, Lester intimated to Donner one reason he had for joining the SUPERMAN production was to receive the money the Salkinds still owed him for the Musketeers films.) "The deal stipulated that he wasn't allowed to attend dailies or be on the set unless he was invited, and he turned out to be a charming, delightful guy, and we had a great time together," Donner says. "Anything Salkinds had to say to me, they would go through him and the same back from me. That was his function on the film, and we became great friends. But, that turned into him taking over SUPERMAN II without picking up a phone and calling me."

After the premiere of SUPERMAN, Donner was waiting to complete SUPERMAN II, probably for release in December 1979. "SUPERMAN was a success, and the Salkinds, for whatever reason, chose not to bring me back. After I waited to hear for six or eight weeks, I got a telegram that said, 'Your services are no longer needed.'" As Newsweek reported above, over half of Superman II was already filmed. This included key scenes with Marlon Brando as Jor-El which were cut due to the actor's litigation with the Salkinds and Warners. Lester took over the directorial reigns, continuing filming in July 1979. SUPERMAN II wasn't released until December 1980 (Europe) and 1981 (U.S.). Lester actually re-shot several perfectly good scenes already lensed by Donner, which Donner has suggested was simply a move by the Salkinds to deny Donner a director's credit.

The Salkinds' greed deprived audiences of seeing more of Brando as Jor-El. Their was an outcry by some members of the cast and crew, Margot Kidder was so incensed that the producers only gave her a cameo role in Superman III. Gene Hackman also decided not to refilm some of his scenes with Lester. Since Gene had finished Superman 2 with Dick Donner, he was in the clear. To cover Hackman's absence from re-shoots, a stunt double and a voice impersonator were used. Like Kidder, Christopher Reeve was also angered by Donner's dismissal but was contractually obligated to participate in the remainder of the SUPERMAN II production.

Perhaps the most unfortunate result of Donner's firing was the corruption of the narrative and tonal unity the director and writer Tom Mankiewicz had in mind for SUPERMAN and its sequel. Mankiewicz had been brought on board by Donner to fix the original two-part script, which was initially drafted twice by Mario Puzo, followed by David Newman and Robert Benton, then Newman and his wife Leslie. Mankiewicz, whose highlighting of the religious allegory in the Superman mythos figured strongly in the first film, was another loss when Donner was fired. Lester re-hired the Newmans. Many of Mankiewicz's revisions were consequently thrown out and some of the weaker aspects of the original script put back in, such as Lois's 'super-amnesia.'

The two films had always been planned as a four-hour "miniseries," to be of a piece, as with the Salkinds' Musketeers films. But Donner's replacement by Lester makes SUPERMAN II a two-headed monster, with the connection between original and sequel much clunkier than it would have been had Donner's vision remained uncorrupted. (Lester had the luxury of completing the Musketeers epic without somebody else coming in halfway through the second part and mucking things up, didn't he?) The tone of the two films would have been much more in sync, as demonstrated by the Donner footage that remains in the sequel. For obvious reasons, this footage feels infinitely more like SUPERMAN.