SUPERMAN II - THE RICHARD DONNER CUT

THE RIC EDITOR'S FINAL WORD

We [the fans] tickled their balls but I believe the Restored International Cut was the viagara that erected Warner Bros. to make this happen and the RIC couldn't have materialised without that mysterious editor. I've spoken to him on a few occassions, not only is he an extremely generous friend, but also very talented and incredibly humble. Here's his epilogue based on various questions from the message board:

"What happened to that guy?"

I moved quietly into obscurity. No more "Entertainment Weekly" articles for me. "Remastering Bandit" indeed. I've been called quite a few things in my life, but never something so ridiculous. (laughs)

What happened to me? Simple. I got to sit back and watch the fun unfold just like any other fan. I watched RIC go from something passed around between a few buddies, to a full blown cottage industry all on its own. I always said I couldn't concern myself with EBAY, and other such nonsense, because I knew there was no way I could ever hope to control something like that. In the end, I'm incredibly pleased with how the whole thing wrapped itself up. People still sell the crap out of it, and that's a shame, but it's the nature of the beast. The up side to people selling it is obvious...exposure. People were getting to see the work. People were talking about Richard Donner's Superman II. Now we have the real thing, and RIC should be put to pasture proper, but apparently that's not exactly the case. There are quite a few bits (I counted 25 myself when I was listening to the Salkind/Spengler commentary) that didn't make the official releases. Also it's fulfilled it's secondary objective, to archive the television version so it won't get lost any time soon. It's first objective, to help raise awareness about Donner's footage? Well, we know how that turned out don't we? I'll never believe RIC was totally responsible for RDC happening, but as far as I'm concerned, it probably didn't hurt the cause.

To wrap up, I'm doing very well, and mighty nice of you to ask!

"The Green Cut? Wasn't he doing a Donner Cut, too, or he was gonna attempt to?"

GC was going to be my attempt at taking the TV version, and pushing it towards Donner's sensibilities. It never happened, and I'm thrilled for it. Would've been a complete waste of time (not to mention money) with the RDC on it's way, and now of course finally here. I never liked the idea of reworking someone else's film, but I was hoping to generate buzz for the real thing. I could care less about what 'my' version would've been like. It was never my film, and I'm glad the fates made me change my course. If someone does take the time to make a fan edit, and I'm sure many will try, I wish them luck, and offer this advice...

Grow some thick skin. You'll need it. You'll never please everyone with this footage. There are too many strong opinions in both Donner's & Lester's corners.

Lastly, I believe ATP [AllThosePowers on the message board] has the only idea that has any hope of working...

"We should do a very detailed poll to find opinions on the true ultimate version.
It needs to be much more detailed than simply asking "Donner or Lester?"
Each major scene should be discussed, with a poll for each one."

With everything that's available now, that's how I would do it. Just my opinion though.

"Either way, the editor was a hell of a swell guy. If you're out there, look me up, I'd love to hen about the Donner cut and other stuff, too, eh?"

Hey thanks UCFKevin! Always nice to get a shout out! Back at ya'.


Anon wrote:
"I would imagine the controversy and legal threats that took the story into the mainstream probably scared him off of doing more. If Warner didn't figure out who he was, I'm sure they tried."

More or less, close enough. I stopped for personal reasons, but when the WB came knocking later on Dharmesh's door, I was more than happy to have already put it to bed. Then the word came out that Donner's film was actually coming out, I was thrilled my work had already been halted. It all ended well, and the Donner Cut is available. Really doesn't get better than that.

ChrisM wrote:
"Speaking of the Green Cut... any chance we could use the bullet FX when Zod is attacked with machine gun fire in the White House? That scene sorely needs this... not sure why Thau skipped over that and yet enhanced the flamethrower."

Pretty puzzled over this myself, but here's my opinion...

As much flack as Thau has / will get for his work on the RDC, there's one very large fact that I realize probably better than most in regards to this project. The simply gigantic task of taking this footage and making it usable / watchable. Speaking as someone who polished my own version of this film for almost 4 years, it needs to be said, no one ever remembers the poor shmoe who painted away dirt. And that problem is merely only one, in a very long list of hurdles Thau and Co. had to overcome to get this film finished. It's an incredible achievement the film looks and sounds as good as it does.

For all the bitching this poor guy will have endure for this decision or that one, I thank him for his amazing work. I actually got the chance to personally thank him, even shook his hand. He didn't know who I was, and that's fine by me. I was just happy to have the opportunity to thank him personally. I also met the main man himself Richard Donner. I thanked him on behalf of the fans, and congratulated him for finishing his film. They were both incredibly nice, and I'll say it again...thanks to you both.

Richard Donner got credit for his lost work, and we all got to see it. Thau had a limited budget, and could only do so much I'm sure. Could I quibble endlessly about nitpicks? Sure. But I'm honestly beyond caring. The miracle of a Richard Donner Cut came to be, and Donner himself got honored publicly for it. How damn cool is that? Again, just my opinion.

Paul Naylor wrote:
"Thanks to him I think things really got cooking on the interest in Superman 2"

I'll argue in return you are the reason for RIC, so you should be the one taking the bow! And once again, thanks to your ex-girlfriend's father, for recording the Betamax copy of the Australian Cut. Without it, RIC would never have been possible. But more importantly, it took one big leap of faith to send it to me. You'll never be thanked enough. The fans owe you big time.

To wrap this up, thanks again for all the kind words from everyone. I certainly do appreciate them!

Sincerely,
The crazy fool who used to have too much time on his hands.