Superman film series Ilya Salkind

ilya , alexander, along producing partner pierre spengler, purchased film rights superman property in august 1974. agreed salkinds produce , supervise filming on superman , superman ii simultaneously, had been case 3 musketeers , 4 musketeers. securing film rights dc comics unbearable experience producers, spengler forced spend 2 weeks in meetings dc executives specific purpose of establishing integrity of character clause. however, producers did make sure dc approved of every aspect of film (including dialogue). @ point in time muhammad ali, dustin hoffman, al pacino, james caan, clint eastwood , steve mcqueen being considered leading role of superman.

william goldman approached write script, chose not so, ilya salkind had cited creative differences goldman. eventually, ilya hire godfather author mario puzo. desperate search director took place. steven spielberg expressed high interest , salkind felt comfortable in hiring him upon being impressed work on duel , sugarland express, though father skeptical, feeling spielberg not famous enough , claimed needed wait until fish movie of released. jaws released unanimous success, though time late spielberg opted close encounters of third kind instead.

peter yates interested in directing, , briefly involved in negotiations, though deal collapsed. both william friedkin , sam peckinpah offered chance direct. friedkin turned down offer outright, while peckinpah dropped out of running when produced gun during meeting salkind. richard lester, guy hamilton, george lucas, john guillermin , ronald neame considered, though lucas dropped salkind found out committed on star wars (a new hope). decided go hamilton, in light of fact salkind impressed hamilton s work director of, among other projects, goldfinger , battle of britain.

salkind recommended mario puzo write script serious science fiction epic. although puzo did impress him aspects, salkind felt script remained intact being overall campy, did guy hamilton. in addition cited greek tragedy , shakespearean elements. fourth villain sentenced phantom zone named zak-ur appeared comedic henchman. time, puzo felt could, turning in 2 drafts, , david newman , robert benton hired rewrite work, means delete objectionable material concerning excessive amount of comedic scenes. leslie newman brought in once benton left direct late show.

casting started take place, , alexander salkind wanted famous actor in role of superman. dustin hoffman once again highly considered though idea dropped. robert redford offered part, felt famous , not right role, did burt reynolds. after success of rocky, sylvester stallone lobbied hard role ignored. paul newman offered 3 roles of superman, jor-el , lex luthor choosing though did not accept of them, salary of $4 million. nick nolte , rex harrison both turn down. decided focus on casting jor-el , lex luthor , save superman later. hoffman offered role of luthor, , although interested, turned down. marlon brando cast jor-el, causing gene hackman cast luthor wanted desperately work brando. impressed producers ability cast famous actors in respective roles, warner brothers decided distribute film internationally, rather domestically.

sets being initiated in rome, italy, having flying tests being experimented. however, brando not go rome there still warrant out arrest due sexual obscenity of role in last tango in paris. decided move production england hamilton himself tax exile native country, allowed him spend no more 60 days year. director forced drop out because of brando s actions , time 6 million dollars had been spent on production. mark robson in negotiations direct after salkind impressed work on earthquake. however, after viewing richard donner s omen, donner chosen.