Recently I purchased a copy of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut while out shopping one night. It was released onto DVD on November 28. This is the version of the film that was not released into theatres back in 1980. That version was directed by Richard Lester after the original director, Richard Donner, was fired by the producers, Alexander and Ilya Salkind.
Director Richard Donner was filming both Superman and Superman II at the same time to save on the budget at the insistence of the Salkinds. He had finished about 75% of the second movie, but was fired after having arguments with the producers, before he could finish filming the rest of the movie. After this, they brought in Richard Lester to finish the second film, but he had to direct at least 51% of the movie in order to get credit for the film. So, many of the scenes already shot by Donner were re-shot or not used by Lester. The Salkinds also did not want to pay Marlon Brando 10% of the profits of the second film, the same deal he had for the first one. So they cut out the scenes of him and instead used Susannah York, who played Superman’s mother in the first film, to complete the re-shot scenes in the Fortress of Solitude. In Donner’s version, you see the interaction between father and son that was missing from the Lester version. The scenes already done by actors Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty and Valerie Perrine (Lex Luthor, Otis and Eve Teschmacher) were never re-shot, so they were used in Lester’s version. The remaining actors were not happy about Donner being fired and it does show in their performances when you view both versions of the film. You can read an interview with screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, where he talks about this here. Warner Brothers held a premiere for the DVD’s release that you can read about here. Here is an L.A. Times article about the DVD’s release. You can read a review of The Donner Cut. Some of you may be wondering what some of the differences were in this version of the film. The following link is a 5-minute video clip from the Donner version that takes place shortly after a slightly different beginning of what many people have seen from the Lester version of the film. In this clip, Lois Lane attempts to unmask Clark Kent as Superman by jumping from a high-rise building. Take a look at the clip here. I do like Donner’s version better than the version that was released into theatres. It took years, but Donner’s version has finally seen the light of day. Pick up a copy at a store near you, you will be glad that you did.
