From everything I've read, this was never figured out. It was going to be a "when we get to it" sort of thing, and the original team never had a chance to get to it and really think about it. I mostly want to know what the initial plan (when 1 and 2 were both one movie and the time reversal only happened in part 2) if they were going to not even have the Lois dying thing in there. Which is a shame, that Superman yell is just epic in all of the emotion in there.
Another my curiosity is how was the original treatment by Puzo. From what I read almost nothing remained in the final script.
My One True Superman is a composite of Christopher Reeve’s Superman, George Reeves’ Clark Kent, Curt Swan’s illustrations, Shuster and Siegel’s more social crusader Superman, and the Fleschier animated version.
Superman saves Lois from the crack in the road she falls into and Lois - indicating the wrecked hire car - says something like: 'Flip for who takes the car back to Avis.'. I believe that was from an interview with Tom Mankiewicz. Of course he also flies the villains to prison and then flies into space and smiles at the camera . Then the camera pans up into space and we see the rocket explode freeing Zod and the others and the last shot is a close up of Zod shrieking 'Freee!'
Is Superman: The Movie that good? It's better than even that. Sometimes - occasionally - your nostalgia is right.
That Supe 1 original ending sounds bad on its own. Then compared to what we got, it's even worse. What we got is super touching: torn up by grief, he's willing to turn back time for himself and Lois. I really think it's one of the best movies ever. Just watched the Donner cut of II -- better for sure than Lester, still a bit too jokey imho; and the turning back time seems almost overkill, though it's ostensibly more.altruistic, to spare Lois's pain.
Having just watched the pilot for Superman & Lois, I'm pretty impressed by Tyler Hoechlin's version of the character. His performance combines a fairly realistic emotional journey of feeling overwhelmed by family responsibilities and failing to bond properly with your children, with the more old-fashioned, aspirational wholesome, loving Superman of the Reeve movies. (Though he is absolutely not old enough to have 14-year-old sons and a life of adult accomplishment before their births.)
When was Donner fired? I watched the Donner cut of 2 a week ago. He spun around the earth and turned back time. So? Obviously if Donner hadn't lost control, this is where he wanted to use/do the time travel... So there's no Time Travel at the end of the first movie had he kept control?
Right, and there is no Eiffel Tower in the second movie. Presumably Lois would have been rescued in the nick of time at the end of the first movie.
I mean, I can suspend my disbelief, but the fact that Hoechlin is only 33 is pretty noticeable... It's a little hard to believe that Elizabeth Tulloch's Lois is old enough to have been a successful reporter for years before meeting Clark and have fallen for him, married him, and given birth to 14-year-old boys, too. It's a little easier to buy because she's 40 and thus her character would have been 26 when the boys were born, but even then we're taking about a character who would have been out of college for only four years by then.