Superman II

Superman II (1980)

Timing: 2:7 (127 min)

6.754/10
2493

6.321/10
8847

6.8/10
124000

All about film

Video 4

Photo 94

Actors and characters

Release date

1980-12-12

Country

United Kingdom, United States, Canada

Production

Dovemead Films, Alexander and Ilya Salkind Productions, International Film Production

Genre

Science Fiction, Action, Adventure

Budget

$54 000 000

Revenue

$216 385 706

Website

https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/superman-ii

Director

Richard Lester

Actors

Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas, Jack O'Halloran, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Valerie Perrine, Susannah York
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Pierre Spengler, Ilya Salkind

Operator

Geoffrey Unsworth

Composer

Ken Thorne

Artist

Jim Morahan

Audition

Lynn Stalmaster, Debbie McWilliams

Editing

John Victor-Smith, Tim Hampton, Cecil F. Ford
All team (135)

• This is the only Superman film directed by two directors. This was the cause of the conflict between Richard Donner and Richard Lester. Donner claimed to have filmed 75% of the film in 1977 before being removed from the project. In 1979, Lester completed the remaining scenes and reworked Donner's material, but according to the latter, only about 25% of his footage remained in the final cut. In November 2006, "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut" was released on DVD.
• The film premiered in Europe and Australia (December 4, 1980) before its premiere in the United States (June 19, 1981), which was a rather unusual decision for a project of this scale.
• During the filming of the corresponding scene, Margot Kidder (1948-2018) genuinely struck Sarah Douglas (unintentionally, of course), who played Lois, in the face, causing her to lose consciousness.
• The film's clip, shown on August 1, 1981, was the first advertisement aired on MTV.
• Eva, played by Valerie Perrine, disappeared from the plot after she and Lex Luthor, played by Gene Hackman, left the Fortress of Solitude, and her disappearance is never explained in the film. This was because the scenes with Perrine were filmed by Richard Donner (1930-2021) before he was fired before filming was completed.
• Lex Luthor is always depicted as bald in the comics, but Gene Hackman adamantly refused to appear that way on camera. It was decided that he would wear wigs that didn't fit him well, and this would subtly suggest that he was actually bald. However, for the prison scenes, the actor made an exception and agreed to be shaved.
• Christopher Reeve, who played Clark Kent/Superman, underwent a noticeable change in physique during filming, and some scenes shot at the beginning with him had to be reshot.
• During the filming of the corresponding scene, Margot Kidder unintentionally hit Sarah Douglas, who played Ursa, in the face so hard that she lost consciousness.