'Superman II': The Richard Donner Cut

Apr 4

Superman broke box-office records when it was first released in 1979. Everyone in the industry thought that director, Richard Donner was a locked in for the franchise, especially since most of Superman II was already in the can. So where did it all go wrong?

Father and son team Alexander and Ilya Salkind had purchased the movie rights from DC. Alexander’s partner Pierre Spengler was also onboard. The executive producers had a preference of shooting sequels at the same time. Previously they’d got in legal trouble for doing this on The Three Musketeers/ The Four Musketeers and not informing the actors and crew before they signed the contracts. One of the people who took them to court was Richard Lester, but we’ll come back to him later.

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The War on Set

During the shoot, Richard Donner and the Salkinds clashed constantly. Mario Puzo had produced a gargantuan script (over 500 pages) for Superman with campy comedy that the Salkinds loved. Reportedly the Puzo script had Lois Lane as a weather girl. This was then revised by the Newmans and Bob Benton, but it was still “unfilmable” according to creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz.

Tom Mankiewicz and Donner managed to get Superman into shape in two months, with Mankiewicz rewriting vast chunks of both movies, despite having his film credit buried.

On set the Salkinds and Dick Donner got in constant conflicts over the production and money. Most of which came from the Salkind’s apparent lack of understanding of the business. Tom Mankiewicz claimed in an interview, “Dick, during the whole film, never saw a budget and they kept saying, “You are over budget”

According to the creative consultant, the Salkinds had unrealistic expectations about the timescales for shoots of Superman and Superman II.

“The super villains break into the White House, where they come through the ceiling and the marines are firing at them, I think that was scheduled for half a day and Dick said, “Are you outta your mind? First of all, if they fly through wrong the first time, we will have to put the dome back, this is two days, even in television it’s two days, you got a gun battle, machine gun fire, we got stuff flying all over the place, you can’t schedule this for a half a day!”. It was like that every day”. - Tom Mankiewicz

Richard Lester directed The Three Musketeers films, and although the Salkinds owed him a lot of money after he successfully beat them in court, he had a reputation for shooting movies quickly. Lester had a problem; he had won the lawsuit against a defunct company not the Salkinds themselves. The producers offered Lester a deal, finish Superman II and they would pay up. It was too good for him to turn down.

There was one problem. Superman II still had a director, and it was mostly in the can. Lester reportedly called up Donner and offered to share credit, but he refused. It took three months for the Salkinds to officially fire Donner. But this left Lester and the Salkinds in a quandary as to get the director’s credit from the industry, he needed to have shot at least 40-50% of the movie.

So Richard Lester was forced to reshoot a large portion of the film.

Release The Donner Cut

The actors on Superman II were furious at Richard Donner’s treatment, none more so than Margot Kidder, who was the first to tell the press about the existence of the Donner Cut.

We were supposed to film Superman and Superman II at the same time. They filmed almost all of it, except for maybe three or four scenes. And then the first one came out and it made a ton of money. And the Salkinds didn’t want to pay Richard Donner the percentage that they owed him. …. So they rewrote and reshot all the scenes with Christopher and me. Terribly I might add. And they buried the original. No one has ever seen it! - Margot Kidder.

As a result of her candid speaking, Lois Lane was reduced to a small walk on role in Superman III. But she wasn’t the only one. Gene Hackman refused to return for the reshoots and looping and had to be dubbed by another actor. And the Man of Steel himself, Christopher Reeve also nearly quit production.

After the release of Superman II, fans started to beg to see the original footage. But many, including Donner himself, thought it would never see the light of day.

But Donner’s assistant on the film, Michael Thau had been relentlessly petitioning Warner Bros to release the Donner cut. He pointed out that over the years the fan requests had continued. Warner finally saw the light, and the reels came out of storage. About 70% of the original footage was rescued and restored. Richard Donner had no part in the process (although Thau led the project) but was supportive of it. He got to see it on screen as a completed picture, before he died in 2021, aged 91. Superman: The Donner Cut was released in theatres on November 2006 and put out on home release.

What Changes Were Made?

Firstly, the general tone. The Kyptonians are more menacing as many of their sight gags have been cut, their faces don’t get etched onto Mount Rushmore anymore. Superman II had wacky roller-skating and people doing pratt falls as filler, which fit with the humor of the Salkinds, and the original Puzo script they loved so much. They rehired David and Leslie Newman (who had been kicked off previous drafts) for the rewrites, who later went on to pen Superman III. The combination of the Newmans (who tended to write screwball comedy), and a director who was being held to ransome by his producers, is likely why the camp elements had slipped back in.

Superman: The Donner Cut also linked Superman and Superman II together. The Kyptonians escape from the Phantom Zone because of the nuclear bomb that Superman hurled into space in the first picture.

The Niagara scene is new Lester footage, and not present. However, Lois starts to figure out Clark Kent’s secret identity sooner, and tests it by jumping out a window and shooting a gun at him. When he finally admits it, it’s much more gradual. Lester ignores the fact that Lois suspected Clark in the first movie.

Marlon Brando negotiated a great deal when he signed on as Jor-El,11% of the gross. His footage went straight on the cutting room floor in a bid to cut costs. He was replaced by Lara, played by Susannah York in Lester’s version. Superman: The Donner Cut restores Brando’s performance.

One of the scenes in a hotel room was never shot, so Thau had to reconstruct from test footage, but otherwise the restoration looks excellent and is essential viewing for any fan of the franchise. Superman: The Donner Cut is available on Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube with an additional fee to your subscriptions.

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