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Superman 1


1978       Christopher Reeve

Superman, a native of the planet Krypton, reared in Smallville, U.S.A. and a resident of Metropolis, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the brainchild of writer Jerry Siegel and cartoonist Joe Shuster. SUPERMAN, the movie, was conceived at a sidewalk cafe in Paris by the father-and-son production team of Alexander and llya Salkind and their family friend, Pierre Spengler. Directed by Richard Donner, who was responsible for "The Omen," SUPERMAN has taken almost two years to film at locations including New York City; Gallup, New Mexico; Alberta, Canada; and England's two major production centers, the Shepperton and Pinewood Studios. SUPERMAN is released in the United States by Warner Bros., a Warner Communications Company.

The project began with the development of the story and screenplay by Academy Award winner Mario Puzo, author of "The Godfather." Then, David and Leslie Newman and Robert Benton did additional work on the script. When Richard Donner became involved he brought in Tom Mankiewicz, a creative consultant. The cast and creative contingent which contributed to SUPERMAN boasts twelve Academy

Awards and nearly one hundred nominations. Included are one three-time recipient, composer conductor John Williams; and two holders of the "Best Actor" Award, Marion Brando and Gene Hack-man. A dual winner (for "On The Waterfront" and "The Godfather") and five-time nominee, Brando is almost as much a legend -in his own way - as Superman. He plays Jor-El, Superman's father and the leading scientist of the doomed planet, Krypton. "It's a crucial role," explained Donner, "which sets the tone and style of the film."

Gene Hackman, who won his Oscar as Popeye, the compulsive narc in "The French Connection," is seen as Lex Luthor, the evil genius who pits his cunning against Superman's strength. For Gene Hackman, who believes that variety is the spice of an acting career, SUPERMAN was a "romp." "I don't know why they thought of me; I'm not sure I would have thought of me," remarks the chameleon-like Oscar winner. "But Lex Luthor was the best time I've had on a movie set in years. Someone once said that the villains have all the fun, and Luthor is the ultimate villain. "He's a real estate wheeler-dealer with a predeliction for waterfront property . like Australia! From his luxurious lair in the bowels of the earth beneath Metropolis, he concocts the most bizarre, yet weirdly logical super-crime in history."

Casting the crucial role of Superman presented the film's creators with a subtle and deep challenge. First, as Ilya Salkind pointed out, the actor chosen would have to create two distinctively different characterizations: "Disguised as Clark Kent, a reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet, he is meek, mild-mannered and totally inept in moments of danger. His writing may some day win a Pulitzer. But alone with Lois Lane, whom he secretly loves, he is awkward and speechless. "Which makes him just the opposite of Superman, who can fly, vault skyscrapers, out-muscle locomotives, start fires with a glare, freeze deserts with his breath, peer through any substance except lead and shrug off grenades, all of which he does in a never-ending battle against crime." The dual personality, adds Salkind, is what has made Superman such a great legend. "Almost all of us see something of Clark Kent in ourselves and something of what we would like to be in Superman." he points out. After months of speculation and rumor, the moviemakers tapped Christopher Reeve, who was brought to them by casting director, Lynn Stalmaster. Reeve's description as an "unknown" isn't quite true to the facts. At the age of twenty-four, Reeve had worked more than ten years as a professional actor, including a stint on Broadway and on tour opposite Katharine Hepburn in the play, "A Matter of Gravity." Capturing that conflicting persona on screen, adds director Richard Donner, meant threading a thin line between illusion and reality. "We knew we had to avoid the trap which so many movies, sired by comic strips, have fallen into - parody or outright 'camp.' That approach would have achieved what scores of villains, including the unspeakably evil Lex Luthor himself, have failed to do - destroy Superman. "Of course, the movie is bigger than life," he continues, "but amidst the most incredible adventures, the characters have reality. Even more important, it is a reality to the characters themselves. SUPERMAN is a comedy, a love story, an adventure and its own thing. "But it is not a send-up." Reeve developed not only his biceps, but his interpretation of the dual role. The taped hero, standing hands-on-hips as bullets glanced off his chest, was only one aspect of Superman. "But there is more to him than that," says the young actor. "In a sense, he is a stranger in a strange land, a solitary man with extra-terrestrial powers, trying hard to fit into his adopted planet. "He has warmth and a fine sense of humor, even about his own super-human strength."

The search for Superman Clark Kent was matched in its intensity by the hunt for Lois Lane. She had to be bright, spunky, pretty, and capable of projecting a fond indulgence with the fumbling Clark and a zesty romance with his steely alter-ego. The nod finally went to Margot Kidder, who admits that she spent the first sixteen years of her life 'fantasizing', and the next thirteen realizing her fantasies. "There wasn't much to do but daydream when I was growing up, so I imagined myself a princess or an heiress or a movie star." It took SUPERMAN to make her childhood dreams come true. She's not only a movie star, she's contemporary fantasy's favorite heroine.

A distinguished international cast completes the roster of citizens from Krypton, Smallville and Metropolis. Susannah York, British Academy Award winner, American "Oscar" nominee and "Best Actress" at the Cannes Film Festival is the Man of Steel's real mother, Lara on Krypton. Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter are the Kents of Smallville, who - in Ford's words - "try to give their amazing foster-son a normal American upbringing."




Item Details:
Pressbook 9x16 single-sided folded




Superman 1

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CAST

Jor-El ....................... MARLON BRANDO
Lex Luthor ....................... GENE HACKMAN
Clark Kent/Superman ........... CHRISTOPHER REEVE
Otis ....................... NED BEATTY
Periy White ....................... JACKIE COOPER
Jonathan Kent ....................... GLENN FORD
First Elder ....................... TREVOR HOWARD
Lois Lane ....................... MARGOT KIDDER
Non ....................... JACK O'HALLORAN
Eve Teschmacher ....................... VALERIE PERRINE
Vond-Ab ....................... MARIA SCHELL
General Zod ....................... TERENCE STAMP
Martha Kent ....................... PHYLLIS THAXTEP
Lara ....................... SUSANNAH YORK
Young Clark Kent ....................... JEFF EAST
Jimmy Olsen ....................... MARC MCCLURE
Ursa ....................... SARAH DOUGLAS
Second Cider ....................... HARRY ANDREWS


CREDITS

Executive Producer ....................... Ilya Salkind
Producer ....................... Pierre Spangler
Director ....................... Richard Donner
Story ....................... Mario Puzo
Screenplay ....... Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman and Robert Benton
Creative Consultant ....................... Torn Mankiewicz
Associate Producer ....................... Charles F Greenlaw
Music by ....................... John Williams
Production Designer ....................... John Bary
Director of Photography ....................... Geoffrey Unsworth SC
Editor ....................... Stuart Baird
Costume Designer ..................... Yvonne Blake
Creative Supervisor Make-up/Special Visuals ................. Stuart Freeborn
Supervisor and Director of Special Effects ................... Cohn Chilvers
Supervisor of Optical Visual Effects ....................... Roy Field
Creative Supervisor of Models and Composites ....................... Los Bovie
Model Effects Directed and Created by .................... Derek Meddings
Superman Created by ....................... Jerry Siegle, Joe Schuster
An Alexander and Ilya Salkind Production

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