Quotes From 'The Making of Superman: The Movie' by David Micheal Petrou (1978)
I was just re-reading this guy the other day and decided that I'd pass on these little tidbits. There may be another post of my favorite sections after I finish it this time. Anything you're curious about, don't be afraid to ask. Your answer may be in these pages!
Christopher Reeve on the characterization of Superman/Clark and the Clois relationship:
The afternoon rehearsals were to start, he showed up in the studio restaurant after several hours’ preparation, wearing a white terrycloth robe and several layers of Stuart Freeborn’s carefully-applied makeup. With the deepened flesh tones and jet-black, perfectly-styled Superman hairdo, complete with curled forelock - Chris’ hair had to be rinsed periodically with a black dye, his natural color being sandy brown, and Pat McDermott had also ordered several wigs - he looked every inch the Man of Steel. And when he removed the robe and stood revealed in the red boots and bright blue leotard with the familiar “S” emblazoned on the chest, Reeve was awe-inspiring.
As much as he looked the part, Chris made it clear when he talked to me later on the set that the film Superman would have to have a greater depth of character than the comic-book figure.
“A hero should not know he’s a hero - otherwise he becomes pretentious and boring. Someone put it very well when he said, ‘You can’t play the king; the people around you play to you being king.
“It’s important to humanize Superman. He walks through walls and can hold up the Golden Gate Bridge with his hands and so forth. So if on top of all that, he said to himself, ‘My God, am I good!’ you’d have a real prig, a boring piece of cardboard. So what I’m trying to do is go way under. If the script calls for incredible feats, then all I have do is…just simply do them. What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and maturity to use the power wisely. From an acting point of view, that’s how I approach the part.
“Another human element I perceive is that he’s not always secure - he doesn’t always have all the answers.
“Staying with the theme of making him more human, take the scene we’ll do on Lois’ balcony, when Superman comes flying in. The script had it that he was really there only to impress her - that’s what I got from the first script - that he’s sort of showing off. Now I think it’s quite the other way around; he’s there because he’s got a crush on her. Superman has already lost his heart; he just saw Lois Lane for the first time and went nuts. Because that’s part of the American ideal, too - love at first sight. You know, it’s marrying your childhood sweetheart. And then he’s modest enough and relaxed enough not to have to hijack her - so that when he comes in as Superman, I want the audience to see that he’s there just because he wants to spend time with the girl he likes. And if the problem is, can he let her know who he is, then that’s painfully boring, too. Where’s the conflict? Where’s the doubts? Where are the problems? Some people seem to think that Superman is invincible - both physically and emotionally - But he’s not. Part of being human is having doubt and conflict and worry and struggle. And though he is from Krypton, all those characteristics need to be in our Superman. That’s why I put a tension between Superman and Clark Kent. The elements of each character in the other… sometimes Superman would like to be Clark Kent, just a normal person with normal responsibilities. Clark Kent would most certainly like to reveal himself as Superman so that Lois Lane would care for him more; there’s a tension of identity going on there. Another thing… it’s important that Superman adopts a very good disguise. That’s why I go to considerable lengths to make the character a good disguise. Up til now, he’s been played with a pair of glasses and no other behavioral change. But I feel it must be really fundamental, because otherwise Lois Lane’s an idiot! For thirty years, in the comic, she’s never figured out that Clark and Superman are the same person. Now, either she’s a dodo or he’s very good at his disguise, and I’ve decided that he’s very good at his disguise.
“For me, that extends to the range of what he has and what his father tells him to do. When I come flying onto that balcony - if you’ve got a man who comes flying in over Brooklyn and around the World Trade Center and ends up on the balcony, then he should naturally say, “hi!”, you know, as if he just came from the street corner. Because if he comes flying in and then poses and thinks he looks magnificent -please, who needs it?- you’d sent him away.
“I want Superman to be someone that, you know, you can invite home for dinner…someone you could introduce your parents to.”
On Why Impromptu Interviews Are Not a Good Idea Unless You Want to Know Your Subject Better:
During one break between shots, I tried to finish up an informal interview with Margot as she rushed about her dressing room in various states of undress - from near to total - eager to get to Heathrow Airport to pick up her arriving baby daughter Maggie. “Look, don’t mind me,” Margot said abashedly as she threw everything together and raced out the door. “I was an early hippie, so I’m not into all this modesty shit.”
Jackie Cooper on Perry White:
“ I think Perry is like a lot of newspaper editors I’ve met - dedicated to the business more than anything else,” Cooper reflected, his face still stamped with the boyish good looks that had been his trademark forty years before. “Since he was a reporter himself and has grown to be an editor, he’s even more passionate about the newspaper business than a reporter. He considers himself a leader - at least as far as everyone on the paper is concerned - so he feels responsible. And to Perry White, responsibility means authority and having people under his thumb Not in a negative way, mind you, but in a caring, protective way. For all the surface gruffness, underneath, I think, like the script says, ‘he loves his grandchildren.’ He certainly has a warm spot for a new kid like Clark Kent - and yes, he is a human being. But he does get very dramatic about things, and doesn’t realize that sometimes he’s a very corny character, complete with all the cliches.”
On The Chiffon Interview Dress and the Drama It Caused:
In the evening, just after the Balcony scene wrapped, there was a tearful argument between Margot Kidder and the costume department. She had wanted to wear her own clothes all along, she protested; she prevailed - and a thousand-dollar dress had to be discarded.
A happier mood prevailed on the set the next day, with Donner playfully calling Chris “Soupy” and Margot “Irving.” (She, in turn, gave the director the pet name of “Harry.”) During one rehearsal, Margot doused herself in wine, thinking the glass she held was empty and then, moments later, drew howls from the crew in a sequence in which Lois is interviewing Superman: “Now what about your vital parts? Superman, how big are you?” Then a moment’s pause before the gales of laughter. “Oops… I meant: how tall? How tall are you?”
Christopher Reeve on the characterization of Superman/Clark and the Clois relationship:
The afternoon rehearsals were to start, he showed up in the studio restaurant after several hours’ preparation, wearing a white terrycloth robe and several layers of Stuart Freeborn’s carefully-applied makeup. With the deepened flesh tones and jet-black, perfectly-styled Superman hairdo, complete with curled forelock - Chris’ hair had to be rinsed periodically with a black dye, his natural color being sandy brown, and Pat McDermott had also ordered several wigs - he looked every inch the Man of Steel. And when he removed the robe and stood revealed in the red boots and bright blue leotard with the familiar “S” emblazoned on the chest, Reeve was awe-inspiring.
As much as he looked the part, Chris made it clear when he talked to me later on the set that the film Superman would have to have a greater depth of character than the comic-book figure.
“A hero should not know he’s a hero - otherwise he becomes pretentious and boring. Someone put it very well when he said, ‘You can’t play the king; the people around you play to you being king.
“It’s important to humanize Superman. He walks through walls and can hold up the Golden Gate Bridge with his hands and so forth. So if on top of all that, he said to himself, ‘My God, am I good!’ you’d have a real prig, a boring piece of cardboard. So what I’m trying to do is go way under. If the script calls for incredible feats, then all I have do is…just simply do them. What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and maturity to use the power wisely. From an acting point of view, that’s how I approach the part.
“Another human element I perceive is that he’s not always secure - he doesn’t always have all the answers.
“Staying with the theme of making him more human, take the scene we’ll do on Lois’ balcony, when Superman comes flying in. The script had it that he was really there only to impress her - that’s what I got from the first script - that he’s sort of showing off. Now I think it’s quite the other way around; he’s there because he’s got a crush on her. Superman has already lost his heart; he just saw Lois Lane for the first time and went nuts. Because that’s part of the American ideal, too - love at first sight. You know, it’s marrying your childhood sweetheart. And then he’s modest enough and relaxed enough not to have to hijack her - so that when he comes in as Superman, I want the audience to see that he’s there just because he wants to spend time with the girl he likes. And if the problem is, can he let her know who he is, then that’s painfully boring, too. Where’s the conflict? Where’s the doubts? Where are the problems? Some people seem to think that Superman is invincible - both physically and emotionally - But he’s not. Part of being human is having doubt and conflict and worry and struggle. And though he is from Krypton, all those characteristics need to be in our Superman. That’s why I put a tension between Superman and Clark Kent. The elements of each character in the other… sometimes Superman would like to be Clark Kent, just a normal person with normal responsibilities. Clark Kent would most certainly like to reveal himself as Superman so that Lois Lane would care for him more; there’s a tension of identity going on there. Another thing… it’s important that Superman adopts a very good disguise. That’s why I go to considerable lengths to make the character a good disguise. Up til now, he’s been played with a pair of glasses and no other behavioral change. But I feel it must be really fundamental, because otherwise Lois Lane’s an idiot! For thirty years, in the comic, she’s never figured out that Clark and Superman are the same person. Now, either she’s a dodo or he’s very good at his disguise, and I’ve decided that he’s very good at his disguise.
“For me, that extends to the range of what he has and what his father tells him to do. When I come flying onto that balcony - if you’ve got a man who comes flying in over Brooklyn and around the World Trade Center and ends up on the balcony, then he should naturally say, “hi!”, you know, as if he just came from the street corner. Because if he comes flying in and then poses and thinks he looks magnificent -please, who needs it?- you’d sent him away.
“I want Superman to be someone that, you know, you can invite home for dinner…someone you could introduce your parents to.”
On Why Impromptu Interviews Are Not a Good Idea Unless You Want to Know Your Subject Better:
During one break between shots, I tried to finish up an informal interview with Margot as she rushed about her dressing room in various states of undress - from near to total - eager to get to Heathrow Airport to pick up her arriving baby daughter Maggie. “Look, don’t mind me,” Margot said abashedly as she threw everything together and raced out the door. “I was an early hippie, so I’m not into all this modesty shit.”
Jackie Cooper on Perry White:
“ I think Perry is like a lot of newspaper editors I’ve met - dedicated to the business more than anything else,” Cooper reflected, his face still stamped with the boyish good looks that had been his trademark forty years before. “Since he was a reporter himself and has grown to be an editor, he’s even more passionate about the newspaper business than a reporter. He considers himself a leader - at least as far as everyone on the paper is concerned - so he feels responsible. And to Perry White, responsibility means authority and having people under his thumb Not in a negative way, mind you, but in a caring, protective way. For all the surface gruffness, underneath, I think, like the script says, ‘he loves his grandchildren.’ He certainly has a warm spot for a new kid like Clark Kent - and yes, he is a human being. But he does get very dramatic about things, and doesn’t realize that sometimes he’s a very corny character, complete with all the cliches.”
On The Chiffon Interview Dress and the Drama It Caused:
In the evening, just after the Balcony scene wrapped, there was a tearful argument between Margot Kidder and the costume department. She had wanted to wear her own clothes all along, she protested; she prevailed - and a thousand-dollar dress had to be discarded.
A happier mood prevailed on the set the next day, with Donner playfully calling Chris “Soupy” and Margot “Irving.” (She, in turn, gave the director the pet name of “Harry.”) During one rehearsal, Margot doused herself in wine, thinking the glass she held was empty and then, moments later, drew howls from the crew in a sequence in which Lois is interviewing Superman: “Now what about your vital parts? Superman, how big are you?” Then a moment’s pause before the gales of laughter. “Oops… I meant: how tall? How tall are you?”