This is a funny, entertaining documentary about SUPERMAN LIVES, a planned revival of the SUPERMAN franchise in the late '90s that would adapt the popular comic book storyline, "The Death of Superman". It was to star Nicolas Cage as Clark Kent/Superman in a film directed by Tim Burton, produced by Jon Peters and written by Kevin Smith, Wesley Strick and Dan Gilroy.

 

Writer/Director Jon Schnepp manages to interview just about all of the key players who were involved in the development of this film except for Nicolas Cage. Screenwriter Kevin Smith gets the ball rolling as he talks about taking a meeting at Warner Brothers and learning that SUPERMAN is in development. Smith is a great storyteller and details his involvement. He meets Producer Jon Peters and is told there are three rules for this adaptation, no costume, no flying and Superman must fight a giant spider. Peters denies the first two rules, essentially calling them absurd. I don't know why Smith would lie about that. I think Peters is just trying to save face.

 

In a story that includes notably eccentric people like Nicolas Cage and Tim Burton, Jon Peters proves to be the most bizarre by far, both from his own interview and from people talking about him. I won't ruin any of the stories, and there are a lot of them, but I feel for all of the filmmakers who have had to collaborate with him in his long and successful career.

 

Tim Burton goes into great detail about his take on the story and on Clark Kent and Superman. He also discusses the difficult development process. It is a very candid interview. Screenwriters Strick and Gilroy also shed a lot of light on the story and the choices that were being made.

 

Schnepp interviews the Production Designer, Special Effects team, Costume Designer Colleen Atwood and the team of artists and goes into great detail on the conceptual level sharing the various costume ideas, designs of villains Brainiac, Lex Luther, Doomsday and the giant spider which was labeled a Thanagarian Snare Beast! There are tons of great ideas on display as well as a look at the wish list of casting these characters and the other key supporting roles in the Superman universe.

 

Although Nicolas Cage declined to participate there is quite a bit of footage of various costume tests for Clark Kent and Superman where Cage and Burton discuss their take on the characters. It is clear that Cage was passionate about the project and took the role very seriously. 

 

Perhaps the most distracting part of this very entertaining documentary is how the filmmakers chose to film the interview subjects. Instead of a standard single or close-up of the interviewee, there is a two shot including Writer/Director Jon Schnepp and a single of the interviewee. This results in tons of footage of interviewees talking with Schnepp next to them constantly nodding his head to what they are saying. It is a poor choice, but clearly Schnepp likes to watch himself on camera in whatever Pop culture T-shirt he chose to wear that day. He assembled quite a cast of fascinating interview subjects and as the audience we want to see and hear them, not watch Schnepp nod his head constantly.

 

THE DEATH OF "SUPERMAN LIVES": WHAT HAPPENED? is a fascinating documentary about filmmaking at the highest studio level and how even a team of successful filmmakers can't always get their film made even after a studio sinks millions of dollars into it. Had SUPERMAN LIVES been made it may have been one of the strangest superhero films of all time. It is a real question mark as to whether it would have been financially successful, especially at the proposed budget level. Peters even questions it. He seems to believe they would have made an excellent picture but that it very well may not have made the kind of money it needed to. Sadly, we will never know. This is a must see doc for filmmakers and a very entertaining one for even the casual viewer.