10 Things You Didn’t Know About Christopher Reeve’s Superman
1. Superman Saved The World, From Milton Keynes
Producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind stepped away from the franchise when the time came for Superman IV: The Quest For Peace to be made. The fourth Reeve-starring Superman film was instead produced by Cannon Films, who slashed the budget and allowed Reeve to come up with his own story (Superman Vs Nuclear Man, with blatant Cold War undertones).
You probably already know that the resultant film was slated by the critics and underperformed at the box office, but you may not know that because the budget was so tiny - huge sections of Superman IV were filmed in the glamorous location of Milton Keynes. Fire hydrants, hot dog sellers and American cars were brought in to make the roundabout-filled UK town look more like New York.
Milton Keynes big shiny train station acted as a placeholder for New Yorks United Nations building. Christopher Reeve and director Sydney Furie begged to have the scene filmed in America at the real UN building because lots of people know that it looks nothing like Milton Keynes train station, but Cannon werent having any of it, and continued pinching pennies at every step.
And so, the franchise that made popular the idea of superhero cinema fizzled out into critical and commercial failure, and residents of Milton Keynes were probably baffled. Even X-Mens Bryan Singer whod hoped to make two sequels after Superman Returns - couldnt resurrect the franchise successfully after the mess that is Superman IV. Audiences got a reboot with Henry Cavill instead, who so far is no match for Reeves charisma.
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