I've been tracking
The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? for a number of reasons. For starters, who doesn't want to spend 90 minutes with a bunch of talking heads that had their hands directly involved with a movie that never got made? Who doesn't want to hear from the horses mouth (
Tim Burton) about what their take on
Superman would have been? And who doesn't want to hear
Kevin Smith tell the same story again? If you have ever watched
An Evening with Kevin Smith, you are already very well aware of said story in which
Kevin recounts how he came about to writing the first draft of what would be
Superman Lives. The same story also touches up on
Jon Peters and his infatuation with a Giant Spider. Well, this documentary owes a great deal to
Kevin's story because it's really the catalyst that spurred on fans to want to know more about the aborted
Tim Burton / Nic Cage Superman flick that never was.
The doc covers everything from rumor to fact as all phases of the pre-production is addressed. When I first heard about
Tim and
Nic joining forces to make this flick, I had the same reaction: Huh? What the f*ck! But as you watch the doc unfold, you get sucked into what is definitely a bizarre take on the
Man of Steel. Yes, it's weird, odd and very un-commercial and most likely would have been a massive bomb had it ever gotten released back in 1998. But by the time the end credits rolled for the doc, I was left begging for this movie to get made. In this day and age of Comic Book movies being released at an alarming rate and all feeling pretty much the same, a movie like
Superman Lives would be a breath of fresh air. Whether you love or hate Comic Book movies, this doc is a fantastic look behind the curtain of how Hollywood is run and how development hell usually kills a movie long before "fan outrage" gets their hooks on it. FYI, the footage with
Nic in Costume is fantastic (both video and still images). There's actually more video footage of
Nic than I thought existed. The artwork that we get to see here is awesome. I want a Coffee-book / Art book for myself. I'd buy it for sure.
After watching the doc, I wouldn't be surprised if some kid or kids or a Film Student took the information in the doc and decided to make their interpretation of the story that would have been told. I have no idea if there are any fan films out there now or in comic book form. But if they exist, I definitely want to check them out for myself.