This is one film to seek out. This is a love letter to fans.
One of the most entertaining documentary films I have seen since the Roger Ebert biography Life Itself isn’t in cinema’s at the moment. It’s on the web, or VOD, Video on Demand. Please, if you are a film fan, check out The Death of Superman Lives. This is a film that you and a group of friends have to watch together. This a film that will be a cult classic, playing for years to come at festivals, art houses and underground cinema’s.
If you asked me if I would want to see a superman movie starring Nicholas Cage directed by Tim Burton, I would say Holy God, Yes!!!!! But back in 1998, the studio powers that were, said no. Sets were built, costumes were designed, the star was cast and the script was done. But the costs added up and the studio, Warner Bros., after a series of high priced flops, pulled the plug.
But filmmaker Jon Schnepp, through a crowd funding campaign, uncovered a bounty of lost effects tests, wardrobe samples and filmmaker interviews. Director and funnyman Kevin Smith reflects on his first big screenwriting gig to hilarious results. Tim Burton, looking gloomy and depressed as ever, explains how a massive machine he was at the helm of is taken from him at the last minute. What I also find wonderful is that he looks at the below the line talent like the effects wizards, costume designers and model makers and gives them ample time, just as much as the above line people, to talk about the experience and how it affected them. The idea of working on the granddaddy of all comic book movies is a lifelong dream for these artisans. For some it was there way into the film business, for others it was just job. For us, the audience, it is a fascinating look on how the Hollywood engine works, how dreams are made and how dreams are crushed.
