10 Movies With Urban Legends Worth Checking Out

7 & 8 Superman (1978) and Superman II (1981)

€œYou€™ll believe a man can fly€ was the tagline everyone was hearing during the fall of 1978. Superman arrived on the big screen for the first time, and was met with enthusiasm and crowds at the theaters. Audiences did indeed believe a man could fly, and the movie was a huge hit. Behind the scenes, the making of this cultural phenomenon was less grand. Director Richard Donner€™s disputes with the producers are well documented, and the animosity that percolated on the Superman shoot would ultimately change the fate of the Superman franchise. Superman and Superman II were shooting simultaneously. When the deadline to finish Superman approached, shooting of the final Superman II scenes were delayed so that Superman could meet its release date. When the film was released to positive reviews, Donner was fired and director Richard Lester, most famous for A Hard Day's Night, was brought on to complete Superman II. Many members of the cast and crew were upset at Donner's firing, and were either outspoken about it or refused to return for work on Superman II. Lester reworked the screenplay and only used a portion of the Donner footage. New scenes, including a new opening sequence set at the Eiffel tower, were shot. Much of Lester€™s contributions to Superman II were campy comic moments, taking the mood of the film in the opposite direction that Donner had conceived. As released, Superman II was radically different in tone and content than Donner and the producers had originally envisioned. In 2001, director Richard Donner was given the opportunity to put together Superman: The Richard Donner Cut. While rather rough in construction (new scenes with the original cast could not be filmed), unused footage, added CGI and some test footage served to allow Donner and his editor to put together a cut of the film that is much closer to Donner€™s vision. Had Donner been allowed to complete Superman II the end product, and most likely the franchise itself, would have been drastically different. Superman II: The Donner Cut is one example in filmdom wherein audiences have been given a pretty good idea as to what might have been.