Zack Snyder has paid tribute to original Superman director Richard Donner in a touching post online. The famed director, who helmed acclaimed projects like The Goonies, The Omen, and the Lethal Weapon franchise, is best known for bringing DC’s Man of Steel to life in the 1978 Christopher Reeve classic. His passing on July 5 has been mourned by many prominent figures in the industry, including Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige.
Though live-action superheroes certainly existed in the days before Superman released in theaters, Donner’s film changed the landscape of comic adaptations forever after. The movie was a major commercial success, grossing over $300 million on a $55 million budget and spawning three sequels and the 1984 spinoff Supergirl. The combination of Donner’s bold vision, and John Williams’ sweeping orchestral score brought an unprecedented sense of scale to the film, catapulting Donner and Reeve to stardom and kickstarting the early modern era of superhero blockbusters.
As a self-professed DC super-fan and director of films like Man of Steel and Justice League, Snyder spoke up in the wake of Donner’s passing to pay respect to the man and his numerous theatrical achievements. Snyder tweeted the original movie’s iconic poster, inscribed with the promise “You’ll believe a man can fly.” In the caption, Snyder wrote, “Thank you, Richard Donner. You made me believe.” Clearly, Donner was a major inspiration to Snyder through his career, as he was for many filmmakers in Hollywood today.
Donner and Snyder were alike in more than just their work with Superman. After the success of his original film, Donner began work on the sequel, only to be pushed off the project before it was completed and replaced by Richard Lester. Lester subsequently made sweeping changes to the script and conducted extensive reshoots, ultimately releasing a theatrical film very different from Donner’s original vision. Donner’s cut was reformed decades later and eventually released to the public.
If that story sounds familiar, it’s because Snyder had a near-identical experience during his time filming Justice League. Like Lester, replacement director Joss Whedon made major changes to the script and reshot whole swathes of footage. The resulting failure of Whedon’s Justice League yielded the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign, which culminated in the director’s original four-hour vision being released on HBO Max earlier this year. In interviews, Donner praised the Snyder Cut’s release, likely seeing something of his own past experience in Snyder’s. Of course, there might not have been any Justice League at all, or any Man of Steel for that matter, without Donner’s original Superman.
Source: Zack Snyder