SATURDAY 20th

A REVEALING INTERVIEW WITH SELUTRON

Hi, after a discussion with Selutron, we decided to let everyone know the status of this super duper project to restore Superman 1 and 2 as a two part epic. I want to thank everyone for their patience, I know some folks were annoyed that we did not communicate many details, but, unfortunately that's the nature of the business when one is trying to negotiate with the people higher up in the food chain. The Q/A below reveals new information about the progress of the project and its current status, it's a MUST read!

You've been relatively quiet lately about your efforts to have a two-part Superman restoration released. Why?

It reached a point where getting off the soap-box was going to be more productive.

So what exactly has been going on then?

It is a long story. Basically, I realised that the best way to go forward with this was to find a production company that might be interested in taking up this idea and pitching it to Warners in a formal manner. So I arranged a meeting with the head of one such company and pitched the idea to them. It was quite a fun, adrenaline-filled experience.

What was the reaction?

I was surprised at just how interested they were in the project and so we arranged to have a more formal presentation a couple of weeks later. In the meantime, at their behest, I prepared (with a bit of help from you and one or two other people - one with some experience of restoration and pitching to Warners) a sort of written pitch presentation as well as an extremely arduous shot-by-shot technical script that basically says that this shot would need two new background extras against a green screen; this shot would need to be keyed-out and placed into this background plate, etc, etc. The idea being to estimate how much it would cost and to make absolutely certain that this project was rock solid in terms of feasibility.

So did they believe it was feasible?

Yes. In fact, the three main questions that they wanted answered beforehand were: is it feasible, both technically and dramatically, is there an audience and is it fresh and different enough? I think that the notion of the two-parter is what really sold them, something that could re-introduce this film in a definitive way to a wider audience. Maybe it is something about that golden era, but the notion of an almost finished 1970s epic on a par with Star Wars starring Brando, Hackman etc, was I think as exciting to them as it was to me.

So then came the presentation? Did you show them the clips you had done?

Yes, to which one guy said "You did all this on spec?!!?" I hadn't really thought about it that way, but I suppose it was helpful to visually see what could be achieved. In the back of my mind I told myself "All those hours spent keying out Zod and tackling story points weren't a waste of time after all!" So anyway I sat at a big table adjacent to a large television screen. I was grilled on just about everything, and during the presentation, I showed clips contrasting before and after, highlighted why story-wise this was a unique and fresh project, etc. etc. Suffice to say, they were sold on the idea.

So then the next phase was to take it to Warners, right? Had you contacted the studio before?

Yes, I had written a letter to Warners identifying myself a while back, just so everything was prim and proper. I had done the same thing with every key person involved in the production of the film.

Fans can't help but speculate about the significance of your clips being up on Youtube, or now exclusively up on Capedwonder. Does Warners know they are there?

They wouldn't be there otherwise. I have to thank Jim Bowers for taking a leap of faith and then keeping those clips there. I suppose that for a studio, as long as the fans are talking about their product, even in terms of a potential version, then all the better. It sure beats indifference; all those fan cuts underline that too. Nobody that doesn't care about these films is going to take the time to make their own fan cut or write forty point dissections about the technical flaws in the 2006 release as I saw on one message board. In the case of Superman, you have an enduring franchise that has an extremely passionate fan-base. Franchises like Superman and Star Trek go through their ups and downs, but studios have and certainly will keep offering them up to fans and the wider public so long as those fans and customers are out there.

So what happened with Warners? That is a question that rings in your ears a lot, I am sure.

The company presented the idea to the studio - sadly, they decided that they were not inclined to move forward with this project at this time.

Was that a major disappointment after all this time?

Not really. I kind of expected it. Retro projects like this work best as tie-ins to new stuff. How many times have the James Bond DVDs been re-released and re-packaged? I've lost count. The last time, they actually re-mastered and re-graded that whole series from the camera negatives, which I thought was a pretty cool exercise. You see a few scratches and splices even on the 2001 restored and extended Superman - I think it could use that kind of spruce up too. Plus, there are a ton of deleted scenes, especially from the first film, which have never been officially released, so there is definitely the scope for a very special DVD and Blu-Ray release at some point - one with lots of cool new goodies, truly remastering the soundtrack - with no infamous substituted effects or music cues - and extras like the deleted scenes, plus the ultimate two-part adventure.

So you think that a new Superman film is a logical window for a Superman restoration release?

Exactly. When Warners announces a new Superman film project, then that would be a logical time to push this again. Since the Donner Cut was released in 2006, it is probably a good thing, marketing-wise that a few years pass before a re-visit.

Do you think Superman is in the "down" part of the "ups and downs" you mentioned?

Star Trek was in a rut a while back, and now they are re-launching it. Batman hit the bumpers before finding a new wind. I'm sure Superman will fly again. You and I recently spoke about an idea for re-booting Superman; there really are a lot of possibilities. Especially with a new US president, hopeful films, which are the hardest to make but also the most rewarding as Superman has proven, may be making a comeback.

Should Superman "go dark" in a future new film?

You know, I watched Frank Capra's Mr Smith Goes to Washington the other day. That classic film is viewed as an extremely uplifting slice of Americana on a par with Superman. Yet, when you look at the plot: corrupt senators in the pockets of even more corrupt businessmen; a press stifled by a media mogul and which paints the good guy as a demon; an apathetic and dysfunctional system, suspicious of and antithetical to the "good guy"…that is pretty dark too. But at the core of the film is an even stronger message of hope and a celebration of American values. Some people wanted to ban that film when it came out - they said it was communist and disrespectful of the US political system, but people that thought that were really completely missing the point. Later, it was actually screened to dozens of US senators. I think that you can go dark in the themes you tackle, but Superman belongs with Capra as a celebration of Americana. In my own humble view, it would be a shame to lose that part of it.

Is there anything more you want to say about the "Donner Cut?"

Not really - best to look forward. I think that it is a shame that it kind of caused a blanket of silence from the Superman cast and crew in the long run. I understand why, but at this point, maybe looking to the future doesn't necessarily mean that you are criticising or being disrespectful to the past.

Since when have the Christopher Reeve Superman films not been loaded with behind-the-scenes emotions and politics, right?

Exactly. It is almost fitting, isn't it?

You were quite critical of the 2006 "Donner Cut" - do you worry that this might have upset anyone behind-the-scenes?

I have only ever been critical of the restoration abilities of Michael Thau. I don't regret that. Why condemn a classic multi-billion film series to silence, breakdowns of technical and creative oversights and fan-infighting to protect the incompetence of one person? Not worth it if you ask me. There are things that haven't been said publicly about that production - maybe one day they will.

You mentioned you contacted members of the creative team behind the film too. Did any respond?

I did, because I said to myself, 'what I am doing is somewhat insane and I don't want to piss anybody off.' One person was especially gracious, especially about the ending - I don't want to name names, another passed on a message of appreciation for all the fan efforts, another person, I spoke with their assistant when I was in LA. A while back, someone wrote on the old Youtube page that Sarah Douglas (Ursa) had seen some of the stuff. I'm not sure if that was real, but if so, it was very touching. To all of them I sincerely say that I really don't want to be doing these kinds of interviews, or posting clips or anything else! I just want to sit down and watch a lovingly restored Superman two-part epic with everybody else!

Fans that would like to see a definitive two-parter Superman restoration - should they keep up their hopes?

If there is one thing that this weird journey has underlined for me, it is that the fans that support the idea are not alone in thinking that this is a viable and worthy project to produce. You know, during some moments when I was wondering if what I was doing was rational or delusional, I talked it over with many friends, particularly those in the media and especially those ones that knew very little about Superman. Not one person ever said to me "You are wasting you time. This is pointless." In fact, I sensed that this was a film that they too, kind of wanted to re-visit remembering Reeve's Superman only from pan-and-scan Christmas TV viewings. There is a market for this project - even if at first it just grows from passionate fans. I said this before somewhere: the version you can show your friends without making excuses for anything. You can watch the two-parter, then watch the Lester Superman II as a bonus as opposed to slicing and dicing and essentially turning both Donner's and Lester's versions into a giant fruit salad. Nothing disrespected, nothing belittled.

Would Dick Donner approve is the big question, I suppose.

The pain of a director being fired from his baby is difficult for anyone to imagine. Those emotions will never go away, nor will the tendency to want to let sleeping dogs lie. I know that he still needs to be convinced that this will not bring up any more pain, but instead be a celebration of what he did back then. Neither I, nor anyone else who supports this is any less crazy for wanting to do this than he was back in 1977 for wanting to make a man fly. If you flew back in time to 1977 and told him what would happen with his baby, I think he would at least hope that an effort would mobilise to allow the film to be truly finished one day. Well, the effort happened over the years and that is why the DC even happened. But why give in the face of setbacks - Dick Donner never did. Either you believe there is a complete and great two-parter in there or you don't. It just needs a few extra leaps of the imagination to conceive and put together what might have been and that is well worth it.

So you aren't giving up on this?

I don't think anyone will ever persuade me that an unfinished 1970s two-part Marlon Brando epic photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth that celebrates the American myth is not worth finishing. I've shown the ending I proposed to a few people, and the general response has been that this is really what underlines this saga; what turns it into that dramatically fulfilling two-parter. I hate to build it up like that, but it is something I feel very passionate about. At one point I said, OK, I'll raise the money myself, or write to Warren Buffet and say "Want to help finance the restoration of a movie about the American myth?" Or maybe set up a website that kind of lets people indicate a willingness to "pre-order" this as yet non-existent release - maybe that is not such a crazy idea. I think Barack Obama's election maybe makes this kind of release a little more viable. Hope has made a comeback. It will happen, one day, I really believe that - and that is an expression of hope, too.

Dharmesh and Seluton wish everyone a safe and fun Christmas. We'll be back.

FRIDAY 3rd

I'M STILL HERE

Sorry I've been away for so long but there was a bereavement in the family. Even though we all have to face death it's still a shock when it happens. One always feels that death happens in other families and not in yours. When someone dies there's a finality that is difficult to articulate. It's just so wierd. She's gone. It's over. All I have is photos and memories. It's difficult to encapsulate death in the written form.

I'll be back later.