Superman (film)/Trivia


 * Billing Displacement: While Brando and Hackman were much bigger names (and thus received top billing), it's Christopher Reeve that everyone rightly remembers in this. In fairness, though, Brando did steal the scenes he was in. So much so that comic-continuity Jor-El was eventually retconned to be closer to Brando's version of the character.
 * Dawson Casting: A minor case. In the extended edition, Lois Lane is the young girl the teenage Clark waves to as he's running past her train, implying that Lois Lane is a number of years younger than Clark Kent. Margot Kidder, however, is four years older than her co-star Christopher Reeve.
 * Slight reversal in the case of Reeve. Although Superman only says "Over 21" when asked about his age, it's later stated that he arrived on Earth in 1948 after a 3-year journey (consistent with apparent age of young Clark as he came out of the spaceship). Assuming the movie takes place circa 1978, the year it was released, that puts Superman in at least his early 30s, but Reeve was only in his mid-20s.
 * Deleted Scene: Included in some foreign cinema releases and TV airings before the DVD release included them all.
 * Doing It for the Art: Richard Donner made "verisimilitude" his mission for the movies. He wanted it to feel real, which was no easy feat. There's a reason why "you'll believe a man can fly" is the tagline, though.
 * Executive Meddling: Lots of it.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: An episode of Banacek six years before this movie had Margot Kidder as Girl of the Week. When Banacek introduced himself, giving only his last name, she responded quizzically, "One name? Like Superman?"
 * In Memoriam: The film begins with a dedication to cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, who died two months prior to its release.
 * Money, Dear Boy: Marlon Brando received an infamously huge salary for the first film. He wanted even more for the second one, which led to all his scenes being cut, Richard Donner fired for supporting him, and Margot Kidder being given all of two scenes in Part 3 for supporting Donner.
 * Reality Subtext: Richard Donner dealt with Executive Meddling in the form of Richard Lester, so the film veers wildly between comedy and drama.
 * Real Life Relative: Steve Kahan (credited here as Stephen Kahan) played Artemus, the undercover cop who had the misfortune to lose his partner thanks to Luthor. Kahan, Richard Donner's cousin, is better known as Captain Murphy from Donner's Lethal Weapon series.
 * Technology Marches On/Unintentional Period Piece: The movie really doesn't say it's the late 1970s outside of a few minor lines, but the ubiquitous typewriters in the Daily Planet with nary a computer monitor to be seen drags you back into the time period.
 * Throw It In: Gene Hackman's "Come in, it's open!" in the first film after Superman breaks the door down is said to be an ad-lib.