Steve McQueen -- Superman ?

[Mikey]

I was just watching my local TV station FMZ-69 and the entertainment guy gave some fun Superman: The Movie facts.

Not sure if this is well known, but I never heard it before .......

Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Steve McQueen were all offered the role of Superman for Superman: The Movie.
They all were offered 2 million apiece.
All declined.......

Newcomer Chris Reeve was offered 200 grand and grabbed it.

Weird thinking Newman, Redford or McQueen COULD have been Superman.

I personally think all 3 were too old (even at that time)

m

[jds1911a1]

yeah gotta agree. but the Salkinds were looking for a big name to sell to potential investors thats why they turned to Brando for Jor el (and he got a big payday for his couple weeks work) and Hackman for Luthor.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Any of those guys in the suit would have seemed like just the actor in tights. The elder Salkind even considered Muhamed Ali until his son pointed out the obvious difference between Ali and the comic Superman.

It's a miracle the Superman movies are as good as they are. Without Donner's initial involvement, I think they probably would have been pretty horrible.

Chris

[jds1911a1]

Gotta agree Chris and the results are most evident when you compare the theatrical release of 2 compared to the recreated Donner cut. I won' even talk about 3 (well I do like the clark vs evil superman fight) and the salkinds get a pass on 4 since they just sold the rights to abother company (but boy is it awful)

[toys2cool]

no way those guys could've pulled off the perfect look reeves did

[LadyZod]

When thinking about the what if's of the world of Superman casting, ever seen the screen tests? There were a few Lois Lanes which I felt were better than Margot Kidder, even though I did enjoy her performance... and I enjoy playing Donner Kidder vs "Other Director" Kidder when watching Superman II, or as I call the game "Check out the wig and teeth on that chick!"

(That's the game where you guess which scenes were shot by Donner at the same time as the first movie vs which ones were shot by the "other director" and added in. You can the difference by Kidder's OBVIOUS wig to match the hair style of the earlier scenes and weight loss which makes her dentures look HUGE!)

[Bo8a_Fett]

Have to thank the movie gods for going with a new face such as Reeve...Donner made the films but Reeves made Superman

[EllaJames]

I love Redford (All the President's Men: best movie ever!), but really having a relative newcomer play Superman was the best way to go. Christopher Reeve was the best person, and I agree, his look was spot-on.