In 1978, movie audiences were introduced to the very first big-screen superhero film that made them believe a man could fly…..“Superman: The Movie.”
In honor of my recent interview with actor, writer, and producer Jeff East, who is best known for portraying the teenage Clark Kent in the Richard Donner blockbuster, I have prepared an informative list of trivia filled with interesting facts about this classic film, which stars Christopher Reeve as “the last son of Krypton.” Enjoy!
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To obtain the musculature to convincingly play Superman, Christopher Reeve underwent a bodybuilding regime supervised by David Prowse, the man who played Darth Vader in the original "Star Wars" trilogy.
On his first day on the set, Marlon Brando suggested to Richard Donner that the cameras roll during rehearsal. Brando reportedly said, "Who knows? We might get lucky." According to Donner, that very first take was the one that was used in the finished film. Brando was notoriously lazy and was constantly pulling little stunts like this to lessen his workload. Christopher Reeve even complained about it in interviews, saying Brando was "phoning it in and it shows!"
The movie was filming in New York City on the night of the 1977 blackout. The New York Daily News was able to publish despite the blackout, because the film company let the newspaper use their generators. Richard Donner humorously remembers that Geoffrey Unsworth believed he was the cause of it all, due to the amount of equipment he was using.
Clark Kent and Superman's hair part on opposite sides.
Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were both delighted with the results of this movie.
To achieve the shot of young Clark Kent (Jeff East) kicking a football into orbit, an air cannon was placed underground and the football fired from it.
Christopher Reeve was an unknown actor at the time. The credits and nearly every trailer for this film list Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman before Reeve, who played Superman.
Much of the footage for what would become "Superman II" (1980) was written and shot simultaneously with the original. Before shooting was complete for the sequel, however, Richard Donner was fired, and replaced with Richard Lester, who re-shot most of the footage directed by Donner.
Casting director Lynn Stalmaster was the first to suggest Christopher Reeve for the title role, but Richard Donner and the Salkinds felt he was too young and too skinny. Nevertheless, Reeve did an excellent screen test that blew away the director and producers. Once he had the part, he underwent a strict physical training session for months, going from 170 pounds to 212 in the period from pre-production to filming.
Originally, the helicopter scene was simply going to have Superman save Lois from falling. Later, Richard Donner decided to have the helicopter drop and the modified scene was called "The Double Jeopardy Scene".
To maintain on-screen continuity, Christopher Reeve dubbed all of Jeff East's dialogue as young Clark Kent. East's voice is never heard during the film. Though in the TV cut, since the extra footage was never dubbed to begin with, one can hear East's original voice a few times. Occasionally leading to awkward moments where in one scene in certain small moments his voice changes tone because of this.
During the scene in which Superman and Lois go flying together and then Superman flies away, there is no cut between Superman flying away and Clark showing up at Lois' door. This was done using a pre-recorded movie of Superman flying away on a screen, with Lois standing in front of it. Then, as she walks away from the balcony, she crosses from the screen to the set with her apartment, where she opens the door to reveal the real-time Clark Kent.
Margot Kidder was originally supposed to sing the song "Can You Read My Mind" for the flying sequence with Superman, but Richard Donner disliked it, and changed it to a voiceover.
Gene Hackman flatly refused to shave his head or wear a "bald cap" to play Lex Luthor. To get around this issue, Hackman's own natural hair was styled differently from scene to scene to give the appearance of him having changed hairpieces. Numerous hairpieces are visible in his underground complex. Hackman relented and wore a skullcap in one scene, when he is taken to prison by Superman. It is visible when he angrily rips off his hairpiece to address the prison's warden, who questions who he is.
The Kansas scenes were shot near Calgary, Alberta, because their growing season was ahead, and the wheat fields were at the right height.
Noel Neill: (at around 28 mins) Lois Lane's mother. Neill played Lois Lane in "Superman" (1948), "Atom Man vs. Superman" (1950) and "Adventures of Superman" (1952). She appears when the young Lois sees Clark Kent (Jeff East) running extremely fast from a train window.
This was the first movie to make use of the new Dolby stereo 70mm split stereo surrounds.
New York City doubled for Metropolis, while the New York Daily News Building served as the location for the offices of the Daily Planet. Brooklyn Heights was also used.
The word "Superman" is not heard until 1 hour and 33 minutes into the film.
Among the actresses who screen tested for the role of Lois Lane were: Anne Archer, Lesley Ann Warren, Deborah Raffin, Susan Blakely, Stockard Channing, and April Byron. One of the reasons Margot Kidder was chosen over them was the fact that she was the only one who saw the humor in the line, "What color underwear am I wearing?" Lesley Ann Warren had actually portrayed Lois Lane earlier in the television special "It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman!" (1975).
It took three to four hours every day to apply the make-up on Jeff East to make him resemble Christopher Reeve.
When Jonathan Kent (Glenn Ford) is changing the truck tire, young Kal-El's hugging Martha Kent wasn't in the script. Child actor Lee Quigley hugged Phyllis Thaxter on his own, and everyone went along with it.
A young John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin from “Cheers”) can be seen as a Navy officer attempting to control the nuclear weapons after Luthor has changed their trajectory.
Larry Hagman was only supposed to be on-set for three days. However, because of the unpredictable weather in Calgary, he was there for almost a month.
The large, red number 9 on the sidewalk, that Superman lands in front of while fighting crime, is located at 9 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City.
Jackie Cooper was a regular in the Our Gang growing up, and was one of the few child stars who survived Hollywood and would go on to success later in life as well. In addition to playing Superman's editor Perry White, he would win two Emmys for directing television, including (ironically) a few episodes of TV's "Superboy" (1988) series in the 1980s.
The film's cast includes 2 Oscar winners: Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman and 6 Oscar nominees: Ned Beatty, Valerie Perrine, Terrence Stamp, Trevor Howard, Jackie Cooper and Susannah York.
In total, five different actors portray Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman:
- Lee Quigley - Baby Kal-El in the scenes on Krypton
- Elizabeth Sweetman - Baby Kal-El in the escape capsule
- Aaron Smolinski - Toddler Kal-El when he lands in Kansas
- Jeff East - Teenage Clark Kent
- Christopher Reeve - Adult Clark Kent/Superman
Phyllis Thaxter was Ilya Salkind's mother-in-law.
At the time of its release, this was the fifth highest-grossing film worldwide, after Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Jaws (1975), Grease (1978), and The Exorcist (1973).
Red, blue, and yellow material can be seen at the top of the backpack when young Clark (Jeff East) opens it in the arctic to retrieve the green crystal. The material will become his suit.
The crew applauded for Christopher Reeve after he finished filming his first flying shot.
Some facts are taken from IMDB & Wikipedia.
Don’t miss the opportunity to listen to my intriguing podcast interview with actor Jeff East, who is best known for his role as teenage Clark Kent in the blockbuster film “Superman: The Movie.” Tune in to my podcast, HOLLYWOOD OBSESSED! Click the links below to listen now!
Episode 99 - HERE
Episode 100 - HERE
