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Capt. Nemo
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
630 Posts |
 Posted - 07/17/2006 : 9:51:59 PM
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Sometimes I like to bring information together from different sources.
Well, today I found myself in a library and the thought occured to me to look up some information on the 3rd and 4th Superman sequels.
I found two books Christopher Reeve's "Still Me" and Richard Pryor's "Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences."
It surprised me that Pryor had so little to say about Superman III.
He only had one paragraph:
quote:
...I went off to London to play the villian in Superman III. And yes, the movie was a piece of sh@t. But even before I read the script, the producers offered me $4 million, more than any black actor had ever been paid.
"For a piece of sh@t," I'd told my agent when I finally read the script,"it smells great."
And one line that is REALLY sad if true:
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One night Margot Kidder stopped by my room to see if I'd go out with her.
Richard took pity(or had other plans with a crack pipe) and didn't go out with her. Thank god.
I thought I wouldn't get much from Reeve's book. Especially, when the first line is:
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The less said about Superman IV the better.
I did find this line that I thought was funny.
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When the first Superman Movie came out, I was frequently asked; "What is a hero." I remember the glib response I repeated so many times. My answer was that a hero is someone who commits a courageous action without considering the consequences-..
I think that criteria definately applied to Superman IV.
I kept digging and found these quotes:
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Superman III was to be Dick Lester's own movie, but in my opinion he was hamstrung by a decision by the producers. One night on the Johnny Carson show, Richard Pryor raved about the Superman films and said how much he'd love to be in one.
Ever get the feeling that Pryor was joking and Salkinds accidentily took him seriously? At least we know where they got their divine inspiration to include Pryor.
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The premise this time (based largely on input from me, I'm sorry to say) was that Superman would intervene in the nuclear arms race.
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...When President Reagan was referring to the Soviet Union as the "the evil empire" and summit talks with Mikhal Gorbachev were at a impasse. I thought the character could be used effectively in the real world once again. Big Mistake.
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Coming so soon after after the debacle of Superman IV, it marked the end of my nine year tenure as a above-the-line movie star.
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Superman IV was simply a catastrophe from start to finish.
No sh@t!
Reeves held up the sequence in Superman III where Pryor fell off a skyscraper with a pink cape and skis to illustrate what was wrong with the film. He also reveiled that Cannon pictures was working on 30 films at the time of Superman IV and that's why money was tight. He also reveiled that the orginial Superman had a scripted sequence where Superman swoops down on a bald guy he thinks is Lex Luther. He's suprised to find out he made a mistake and it was Telly Savales[!!!], he says "I love ya baby" and offers Superman a lollipop[!!!].
Which tells me they had NO respect for this character at inception.
Anyone have anymore information?
And have any of you Jabootu-ites played detective on any of the movies on this website?
________________________________________________________________________
"Ward, the Beaver blew up the 7-11 again."
"I'll have a talk with him Dear" |
Edited by - Capt. Nemo on 07/17/2006 11:51:30 PM
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2006 : 10:10:38 PM
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Mario Puzo on the original Superman:
"What happens after you do a script is -- taking the case of Superman -- you have a conference with the producers. All the suggestions they make will be to incorporate scenes from a movie that has just come out and has been a big success. They'll say, 'Why don't we have ten sharks around Superman?' or 'Why don't we have Darth Vader come out with his magic sword and try to kill Superman?' It gets really tiresome to sit there and listen to that stuff... The writer does what he can, but he doesn't really have much of a say. They just do anything they want. There may be seven people rewriting the script."
From Reel Power by Mark Litwak, pg. 78 |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2006 : 06:15:19 AM
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Superman III really suffered from having Pryor in it. The concept of a lighter and more comedic Superman film is not necessarily a bad one. Of course, you need a script that will handle it properly. Having a non-comedian or at least a little known comedian play Pryor's role would have helped with the film some as it would have changed audience expectations. The film still has a lot of other problems, but the concept in and of itself is not bad.
Nothing good can be said for Superman IV.
Capt. Nemo, I don't know that you can point to a written scene for a film and say that this shows how little the filmmakers cared for the character. A lot of good films have had scripted scenes where you wonder what the script writer was smoking at the time and are thankful someone had the foresight to get rid of it. I generally have the impression that the Salkinds really tried to portray Superman in a respectable way.
The ROPe gives you three options, convert, submit, or die. There is a fourth, resist. |
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RVHorror
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
532 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2006 : 3:14:55 PM
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| I'd heard about the Telly Savalis bit from some "making of" article, I think in Cinefantastique. As I recall, it was in Puzo's script and Newman and Benton took it out. |
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RVHorror
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
532 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2006 : 3:17:52 PM
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| I'd heard about the Telly Savalis bit from some "making of" article, I think in Cinefantastique. As I recall, it was in Puzo's script and Newman and Benton took it out. It never got near to being filmed, it was just one of those things that got thrown around. |
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