Superman

July 9, 2003: Sylvian Despretz Talks “Superman Lives”

Superhero Hype has published an exclusive interview with French concept artist Sylvain Despretz about the Superman Lives film that never made it to the big screen. Having read the interview, I'm kind of glad this guy won't be working on the up-coming Superman movie. His attitude towards superheroes and comic books at large leave a lot to be desired. Here's an excerpt from the interview...

Sylvain Despretz is a conceptual designer/artist and storyboard artist with a great list of films behind his name, including: Alien: Resurrection, Black Hawk Down, The Fifth Element, Gladiator, Panic Room and much, much more. He also worked on the failed Superman Lives/Reborn project and took the time to answer some questions on that project and the project that is currently in development. With some surprising answers:

Q: Is it true that producer Jon Peters brought in kids to see if they liked the concepts so that they could be made into toys?

A: Yes. It's true. I was there on a couple of occasions where this happened.

Q: What do you feel about the fan uproar about the change of suit at the time?

A: I never heard of an uproar. I do think that so-called fans are a bit unreasonable in the amount of attention they pay to relatively innocuous matters; like we say in the business: "it's just a movie".

Q: Do you know if their were any sets/props/vehicles built or any visual effects/animatics tests done?

A: A little piece of Krypton was built, that summer, and Nick Cage came in for a suit fitting, one day. That's all I remember on my watch, that summer. I understand that several months later, in another attempt at the project, more sets went up, then back down.

Q: How did you react to the fact that the film never went into full production, because of budget constraints (which I find ridiculous because you absolutely cannot make a Superman movie with a small budget and expect it took look good)?

A: I didn't' really care. I was long gone when the news came in. I don't think the budget had anything to do with the film not being made, I recall that the issue was that there was no favorable consensus on a script, and that Warner Brothers were scared because they had had a very bad year. Fear was the reason. Not money.

Read the complete interview at the SuperHero Hype website.


2003 Movie News

Listed below are all the Movie News items archived for 2003 organized into 5 categories:

“Superman” and “Batman vs Superman” Movie News:

Christopher Reeve Movie News: George Reeves Movie News: “Supergirl” Movie News:

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