The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?

This movie is an intriguing look at the never completed Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage. It is a fascinating convergence of.movie making and comic books. More than that it is a look at how difficult it is to get a movie made in Hollywood and how the compromises and egos, as well as budgets can get in the way of artistic expression. The movie's premiss, the making of an alternative perspective on Superman's story as told by Tim Burton would never have happened had he not defied the odds with the unlikely success of his Michael Keaton Batman film. That shows how quickly leverage can rise and fall in Hollywood. The behind the scenes, and test footage, as well as the interviews make this a fun and unusual ride.

Over the years, there have been talks of an unmade Superman movie starring Nicholas Cage, which has been the subject of controversy among not only fans of the character, but comic book fans in general. Pretty much all there was to show for it was a few leaked, horrible images of Nicholas Cage sporting quite a head of hair in a cheesy suit, Kevin Smith's shared experiences from being a writer on the movie, and a supposed leaked script.

This documentary sheds light on the unmade movie and tells the whole story through incredible concept art, and pretty cool special effects tests all of which just don't belong in a Superman movie.In addition there's info from some of the crew members working on the movie at the time. People interviewed include concept artists, director Tim Burton, writer Kevin Smith, Producer John Peters, costume designers, special effects artists, and others caught up in the production at the time.

The thing I personally found amusing was how almost everyone involved with Superman Lives had so little knowledge on the characters, mainly from producer John Peters who had the most insane, outlandish ideas that made little sense to not only the actual movie, but to the universe established in the DC comics. The movie truly felt like like it was doomed from the start.

Anyways, it's a pretty good documentary that tells the tale of how outright bonkers Hollywood can truly be. I'd suggest you watch it if you're into the whole unmade movie type of documentary thing Reminiscent of Jodorowsky Dune, which is another documentary you should also check out.

It is always fascinating to see the innards of the making of a movie. People that are working so much before you even know that the idea exists. Superman Lives, though, was not that special an idea.

It would have been fun to see a long hared Nicolas Cage play Superman (and I honestly mean it, especially since he was still young and caring enough about his roles) and Tim Burton would have probably reinvented the superhero genre all by his lonesome. However it would have been neither completely revolutionary nor conservatory enough to appeal to movie studios. Its cancellation was not possible, but the most probable outcome.

The documentary goes ahead and describes how the work for the movie started and how they prepared concepts and costumes and they were weeks from starting filming when the project was canceled. Fun to see Kevin Smith contradict Jon Peters on how things actually happened and who had which idea, but in the end the viewer doesn't care one way or the other.

I feel that the documentary, unlike others in the genre, like Jodorowsky's Dune, failed completely in making the viewer care. You didn't see Cage heartbroken for not making the film (in fact he didn't appear at all, except in archive footage), you didn't see Smith or Peters cry tears of frustration for not getting the thing done, and the footage about their preparations and the minute details about the Superman costume left me cold.

Bottom line: Good to watch it in order to learn how movies get conceived and made. Bad if you want to enjoy yourself or feel anything about this movie that was not made.

Back in time to 1998 when Tim Burton was in talks and fully involved during pre-production to direct the major new Superman film, Superman Lives! Nicolas Cage would be Clark Kent and the costume screen tests is amazing footage, particularly seeing how great Tim and Nic would have collaborated. Featuring interviews from spectacularly gifted artists who provided the concept art, producer Jon Peters with his strange approach and early drafts of the screenplay by none other than the mighty Kevin Smith, not only is it a really enjoyable watch but really captivating and I personally think it's such a shame it was a failed project. The concept art looks incredible and to see that on screen would've been something else. Maybe it'll rise to studios interest again in the future.... the documentary itself is essential viewing though and although I would've liked to know more details about the films story which is barely referenced to, it's still really well edited and clearly made with a passion for its subject

The infamous bomb to end all bombs, a doomed effort to relaunch the Superman franchise in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophic Batman and Robin, never made it to principal photography. Ever since it was unceremoniously dumped back in 1998, the film's been a secretive slab of buried pop trivia and this documentary, through interviews with virtually every guilty party, attempts to uncover what might have been. Facepalm-worthy mistakes abound, from overzealous producers with absurd requests to tripped-out directors with no affinity for the character to one of the single worst casting decisions in recent memory. There's no two ways about it: this was going to be a launchpad disaster, even worse than the slim shreds of leaked information may have led us to believe. The story of its abortion is fascinating, too, in the same way a slow-motion replay of a fatal F-1 crash might be. The documentary belabors many points, though, needlessly bloating its runtime, and the director/moderator is incessantly forced into most shots, which I found grating. As a slideshow of concept art and talking heads recollecting (often, stunningly, with fondness) the mistakes they were never given the chance to make, it provides a short-lived interest. The full duration is something of a chore to push through, however, and it really could've done with some critical editing before release.