Once upon a time, the world was very close to getting a Superman movie directed by Tim Burton and starring Nic Cage, titled Superman Lives. The Superman movie, which was intended for production during the 1990s, would feature Lex Luthor, the alien supercomputer Brainiac, and Doomsday as villains. The project was, however, scrapped. There were many names attached, including Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez, and many, many script revisions. We’ve heard legends that the movie was to centre on a version of “The Death of Superman” storyline from the comics, and the plot had Braniac kill Superman by simultaneously blotting out the sun and unleashing Doomsday on metropolis. Throughout the years, storyboard, photos of the proposed Superman suit emerged online, and just recently, the legendary script draft leaked as well, courtesy of The Superman Homepage. It was a giant mess and there is no denying that with so much studio tampering, the project could have been an outright disaster. But it could have also become a cult classic, and who knows, in the hands of Tim Burton, it might just have been great.
Regardless, the attempt to produce Superman Lives is fascinating stuff, and the missteps taken along the way to its eventual failure remain intriguing enough to center a feature film documentary around. Enter producer/director Jon Schnepp (The ABCs of Death; Metalocalypse), who might just give us the full story in his new documentary The Death of Superman Lives”: What Happened?. Schnepp is attempting to finance his movie through Kickstarter, where he formerly had a hand in one of the most successful crowd-funding campaigns for the animated Grimm Fairy Tales series, which he’s also directing. Schnepp is close to reaching his goal, so why not help him out. Check out the video below and decide if it is worth your hard earned money. And if you like what you see, head over to his Kickstarter page. Enjoy!
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