Documentary on Burton's Unmade "Superman Lives"?

Filmmaker Jon Schnepp is raising funds to make a documentary about Superman Lives, a never-made feature film that had Tim Burton attached to direct, Nicolas Cage to star as the Man of Steel, and, at one point, had Kevin Smith hired to write the screenplay. Christopher Campbell at Film School Rejects has the whole story (and you can donate to the project here):

Thanks to Kickstarter, there continues to be an increase in documentaries being made about movies. On top of that, there also seems to be a trend lately for filmmakers to look at failed movie projects, as if inspired by the heartbreaking 2002 release Lost in La Mancha. Currently on the festival circuit is the must-see doc Persistence of Vision, which is about the decades-long disaster of The Thief and the Cobbler (see my thoughts on that and some clips here), and recently funded and now in the works is Science Fiction Land about the canceled movie that wound up at the center of Argo. Now, we may get to learn the full story on another collapsed production, Tim Burton‘s Superman Lives, via the proposed new project of director Jon Schnepp (The ABCs of Death; Cartoon Network’s Metalocalypse). It’s another “unmaking of” doc titled The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?

And yes, Schnepp is attempting to finance this movie through Kickstarter, where he formerly had a hand in one of the most successful crowd-funding campaigns for film ever (for the animated Grimm Fairy Tales series, which he’s directing). He’s already amassed a lot of background material and concept art for the failed Superman movie, since he’s been collecting the stuff passionately over the years, and now he just needs to conduct interviews and put it all together to tell the story of what went wrong. He hopes to talk to attached stars Nicolas Cage and Sandra Bullock, as well as Kevin Smith, who wrote a draft of the script, and Burton, who was all set to direct when Warner Bros. put the thing on hold in April 1998.

Schnepp hopes this will be a quick endeavor in order to premiere the doc at the San Diego Comic-Con this summer and then put it out on video. I could see it taking longer, however, if he manages to raise more than his minimum production goal of $98,000. On top of that amount necessary for just the documentary, he’d like to get another $50,000 for his “stretch goal,” which would go to sequences where he films scenes based on Smith’s script and Burton’s notes. Whether Warner Bros. would even allow that to happen seems iffy to me, but it’s certainly something a lot of movie and comic geeks would love to see.

Watch the campaign video and let Schnepp passionately explain it all to you: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1270411036/the-death-of-superman-lives-what-happened


Of course, there are some great incentives to donors here, including original production artwork (by Schnepp, not Burton) and model props (for the doc, not Superman Lives). For $1,000 you can even appear on the DVD/Blu-ray giving an interview about your personal opinions of Superman Lives and the Superman character in general. I don’t have that kind of money, but I will share my own short, first-hand anecdote:

In December ’96 (or it might have been in January ’97), I was working in the box office of the Angelika Film Center in NYC when Smith (and I think Scott Mosier) came in to see Citizen Ruth. The teenage fanboy that I was at the time went up and met him and quickly asked about Superman Lives. He told me that it was a lot of fun, because he didn’t have to worry about any of the directorial execution. I’m paraphrasing here, but basically he said, “I can write ‘Superman moves a mountain,’ and say, ‘Okay, now you figure that out.’” Jokes aside, though, he did seem really excited about the gig.

Yeah, it’s not a very interesting story, but it’s one that I’ll never forget because the film never happened and neither Smith nor I got to see how Burton or anyone else might have shown Superman moving a mountain. While I doubt that idea is even in the script, I’d like to now see Schnepp make it a reality. Hopefully he reaches his goal and then some in the next 43 days, and we get to see The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?

Video Interview: Burton on Art, "Dark Shadows," "Superman Lives"

The Wrap conducted an extensive interview with Tim Burton. The filmmaker discussed a myriad of subjects, including the origins of his artwork, why Dark Shadows will not be in 3D, and the failed Superman Lives project.

The video below features some of the interview, which was fully transcribed below:



Can you talk about the creature series, the untitled animation series, the number series; some of the more unfamiliar portions of the show?

A lot of these things came at a time when I was a student or working at Disney when I wasn’t really an animator, I just sort of had a lot of free time. There’s a period in my life when I wasn’t very social, and that’s how I spent my time, drawing and thinking of things, and it helped me. I think I was quite a depressed character at a certain point in life. This was kind of a catharsis for me, as a way to kind of explore and just get feelings out into the open nonverbally but just by doing things.

Is that something you commonly do to relax, just sit down and draw?

Yeah, it is. It’s a bit kind of like a Zen thing for me. It was a way for me to communicate with myself in a weird way, in a way to kind of explore things that I couldn’t quite intellectualize or verbalize. I found drawing was a way of finding a certain reality for me and exploring things. So yeah, it’s still important even if I’m busy doing other things.

When you were at Cal Arts, you felt you weren’t a good "life-drawer," but you had a revelation while sitting and drawing over at the Farmer’s Market.

I’ll never forget, it was like a mind-expanding moment. I was sitting at Farmer’s Market and we were there on a class trip, sketching. I was frustrated, and I just said, “Fuck it. I can’t do this so I’m just going to draw.” And at that moment, it just changed for me. Not that my drawings got any better, but it just did something that I truly felt like my mind expanded. It was like taking some kind of drug and it just did something. I’ll never forget it.

A character from “The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy,” Stain Boy is said to have come out of your experience trying to get “Superman” made at Warner Bros. How does he reflect that experience and can you talk about the struggles between Jon Peters, you and the studio?

Any filmmaker that’s had that happen will tell you, it’s kind of a scarring. You don’t forget it. It’s kind of the worst thing that can happen to you because, as an artist you get excited -- your whole energy is based on your passion for doing something. And then when you’re going on and on and on, and that’s sort of taken away, it’s quite traumatic because you put your passion into it. If you didn’t care, you’d just move on. It’s happened a couple of times. It seems to happen more and more with people. You know, it’s a lot of money; it’s a big responsibility. And movies are a gamble. There’s no such thing as a sure thing. I’m always amazed that certain studio executives don’t realize that. I guess there’s some things that are a bit more sure than others, but at the same time, you got to rely on the filmmaker. I’ve always been grateful when the studios understand, "Well, you’re the one making it, we should support you." I’ve always had this image of like, "Okay, you’re the star athlete,’ and right before the race, they beat the shit out of you then say, “Okay, now go win the race.” It doesn’t make any sense.

I know you’re in the first week of “Dark Shadows.” How do you usually ease the cast and crew into a production?

It’s been hard to kind of come here because I’m just starting, and it’s a weird tone and it’s a lot of actors and, you know, we’re not starting with the simple stuff; we're sort of getting right in there. You like to kind of sneak up on it a little bit, but this one we just kind of slammed right into it.

It’s based on a soap opera. Will it have that soapy quality?

Yes, I don’t know. I’m early into it because it’s a funny tone, and that’s part of what the vibe of the show is, and there’s something about it that we want to get. But when you look at it, it’s pretty bad. I’m hoping that it will be -- it’s early days, let’s put it -- I’m very intrigued by the tone. It’s a real ethereal tone we’re trying to go for and I don’t know yet.

Can you talk about your first meeting with Johnny Depp and how your relationship has evolved over the years? I understand you used to have to fight to get him in movies, and now people are begging you to put him in movies.

It’s true, I mean I just had an immediate connection with him. I didn’t know him, but he just felt right for “Edward Scissorhands.” We’re friends and colleagues, and we’ve always taken the tack of not working together just to work together. It’s got to be the right part, the right movie, all of that sort of thing. There’s a good sort of non-communicative communication, you know. Because especially back then I was not a good verbal communicator, and he’s a bit similar, but there’s more of a psychic kind of connection, I would say, that sort of has remained. I like actors, too, that like to change, become different things. Those are the kinds of actors I find fun and exhilarating to work with.

Will “Dark Shadows” be in 3D?

I have no plans for that. I loved doing "Alice" in 3D. “Frankeweenie,” gonna do that in 3D. There’s people like, "Everything’s gonna be in 3D," or "I hate 3D!" I think people should have a choice. I don’t think it should be forced on anybody. At the same time, it’s great, some of it. It’s like "Yes or no!? 3D! Yes or no?!" It’s like, well, you know, come on, whatever, some yes, some no.

Video: "Superman Lives" Costume Test Footage

Special effects artist Steve Johnson has posted a video on YouTube of some costume tests for Superman Lives:

More "Superman Lives" Artwork, Costume Tests

Special effects artist Steve Johnson has posted more photos and artwork from Tim Burton's ill-fated Superman Lives project on his Facebook profile. Here are a few samples:

'Superman Lives' Costume Tests

Visual and makeup effects artist Steve Johnson has posted 22 images revealing some costume tests for Tim Burton's ill-fated project, Superman Lives. Here is just a sample. You can see all 22 images in Johnson's Facebook photo album:

"Superman Lives" SFX Test Footage

Tim Burton Collective News reader Matty has discovered a little gem: a very brief special effects test footage clip from the unmade feature, Superman Lives:



The film was intended to be released in 1998. It was to be directed by Tim Burton and starring Nicolas Cage, with a screenplay by Kevin Smith.

Burton on "Twilight", MoMA; Exhibition Preview

MTV News spoke with Tim Burton at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

In this video, Burton discusses how this massive retrospective was such a "surreal" event for him:

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"It's so surreal that it's a bit of an out-of-body experience," he told MTV News at the MoMA. "So you don't actually feel like it's you; it's somebody else. But like I said, it's a cool honor. I got to see friends that I hadn't seen in many years. It's a real nice thing."

For the filmmaker, this artwork was meant to be more of a personal catharsis rather than made for public viewing. "I've been there [with therapists]. Done that," he joked. "Making movies is an expensive form of therapy, but it's better than therapy. I've had a couple of psychiatrists who were up there in that range."

Burton says he is not very good at drawing, but he likes the honest imperfections of his work. The flaws, the good things, the bad things — it's all a part of what makes it a piece of work," he explained. "I accept the flaws, as much as I may not like them. ... These things should be kept as they are. I grew up loving terrible movies, so you don't want them to change. You want them to be bad as ever."

The topic of the ever-popular Twilight series has been booming in the news. Jamie Campbell Bower, who will appear in the next installment of the saga, suggested Burton ought to direct the next movie. "He's being biased, because I worked with him on 'Sweeney Todd,' " Burton laughed. "But that's nice to hear. In case potential jobs run out, it'd be nice to know someone."


The grand retrospective "Tim Burton" will be open to the public on Sunday, November 22nd. Members of MoMA can catch a preview of it now. Here are a few samples of the vast array of movie props, paintings, personal photographs, sketches, and artifacts featured in the exhibition (all images courtesy of MTV News):


The gaping maw leading to the beginning of the gallery.


A personal letter from Tim to Johnny Depp.


A conceptual painting of Brainiac for the unrealized film Superman Lives.


Another illustration of Brainiac for Superman Lives.


A painting of the Joker from Batman, the quintessential insane menace.


The disembodied heads of Pierce Brosnan and Sarah Jessica Parker from Mars Attacks!


Artwork from the making of Mars Attacks!, partially inspired by classic B-grade science fiction movies and pulp comics, but very much of Burton's original imagination.


Burton's fear of clowns on a massive scale, in the form of an alien invasion.

A video from YouTube user FGuts123, featuring more previews of the exhibition and some words from Burton himself at the podium during the MoMA press preview: