Richard Donner’s Poignant Reason for Making Christopher Reeve’s Superman Movies Makes Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’ Seem Criminal
- Richard Donner's reason for making Christopher Reeve's Superman movies was to stay true to the character's essence.
- Donner's approach focused on Superman's grounded qualities and fantastical elements.
- Donner expressed disappointment in Zack Snyder's darker take in 'Man of Steel,' feeling it strayed too far from the traditional character.
It is crucial to understand the requirements and the essence of a character when it gets ready to transition from the pages to the screen, especially if the character is as iconic as Superman. From Richard Donner’s Christopher Reeve version to Zack Snyder’s Henry Cavill version, fans have seen different takes on the superhero over the years.
However, these different takes also came with their flaws, as some stuck too much to the source material in comics while others strayed too far in the name of creative liberties. This is where Donner had a different take from Snyder, which gave rise to the fan-favorite quadrilogy of the iconic superhero.
Richard Donner’s love for Superman saved Christopher Reeve’s version
Late Richard Donner was one of those who grew up reading classic Superman comics in the 1940s, and much like everyone, the superhero was a beacon of hope for him. This made him connect to the first Superman movie beyond the perspective of filmmaking.
However, when the director received the first draft of the film, he knew something was not right as he felt the writer’s approach didn’t align with Superman’s true essence. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Donner revealed,
It was disparaging. It was just gratuitous action. I’m reading this thing, and Superman’s looking for Lex Luthor in Metropolis, and he’s looking for every bald head in the city. And then he flies down and taps a guy on the shoulder and it‘s [Kojak’s] Telly Savalas, who hands him a lollipop and says, “Who loves ya, baby?”
This kind of unnecessary cheesy humor was not something that goes well with Superman, and in order to save the script, Donner called Tom Mankiewicz to write a new one. In an interview with The Telegraph, Donner said,
The whole thing was to save an image of what I thought Superman should be, and what he meant to me as a kid, what I respected in the character’s creators, and what I hoped the public, especially the kids, would latch onto. It seems stupid to say I wanted to save Superman, but from the direction it was going before Tom and I got on, I think we did to a degree save it.
Donner told The Hollywood Reporter that he told Mankiewicz, “Make a love story. And prove a man can fly.” This approach would combine Superman’s fantastical elements with his grounded qualities. Although his new rewrites met some resistance from producer Alexander Salkind, they finally got approved, and fans got Christopher Reeve‘s iconic Superman.
Richard Donner’s opinion on Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel
Before Zack Snyder made Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill as Superman, Donner was optimistic about the new possibility. In an interview with MTV (via ComicBookMovie), he said,
It’s going to be really tough on [Henry Cavill], but he’s a wonderful actor and has a great director working with him. I think they’ll do a sensational job.
However, his opinion changed after watching the darker take on a hopeful character, especially in later movies like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Donner expressed his disappointment in an interview with Den of Geek in 2018,
I don’t see Superman as the way he’s being treated today, which is in a very dark fashion […] I think we’re in strange, dark days of moviemaking, but Superman was a hero. He was a fantasy, but we believed him. He’s not treated like that anymore. I’m not happy with it.
Snyder’s version of Superman has always faced the criticism of getting too far from the traditional aspect of the hero. The Man of Steel is inherently someone filled with optimism, but the internal conflicts and cynicism shown in Snyder’s version overshadowed all of it. Moreover, Superman is someone who always cares for people, controlling his actions as they might hurt someone, and most importantly, he doesn’t kill.
But Snyder took a different take from the beginning to set up an Injustice Superman-type storyline, but the director never showed the hero bright and hopeful enough to feel that drastic change later. This approach showed a significant shift from Donner’s vision of Superman, which was not liked by many.
Christopher Reeve’s Superman trilogy is available to stream on Prime Video.
Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice are available to stream on Max.
