2007 Movie News Archives

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June 18, 2007: Interview with “Superman II” Fan-Editor “Selutron”

By Barry Freiman and Daniel Grant

Introduction by Barry Freiman

When Warner Brothers released "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut" (the "Donner Cut") on DVD last year after literally decades of clamoring by fans, most people assumed that to be the last word on the long-discussed subject of the firing of "Superman: The Movie" Director Richard Donner part-way through the filming of 1980's "Superman II". Film editor Michael Thau put together the "Donner Cut" from tons of footage shot by Donner in the late 1970s and stored in a U.K. film vault for almost three decades.

However, some fans believed Warner Brothers could have put more time and/or money into the "Donner Cut". Fans like "Selutron" (a pseudonym).

Now that there are essentially two versions of many of the scenes comprising "Superman II" - those shot by theatrical release Director Richard Lester and those shot by Donner - a small number of fans like Selutron have turned themselves into amateur film editors adapting and, in some cases, making wholesale changes to parts of the "Superman" sequel. As with the campaign to get the "Donner Cut" released in the first place, the principal forum for presenting these alternative fan-cut scenes is the internet - namely video service YouTube.

I came across Selutron a few months back while browsing videos on YouTube. I was immediately fascinated by one particular scene he'd put together to explain what Superman did at the end of 1978's "Superman: The Movie" after he turned back time to prevent Lois from dying all over again (which is what compelled the Man of Steel to change time during the first film's climactic scene). Though Selutron is far from the only amateur film editor making his or her presence known on YouTube, he's certainly put together some of the more creative and polished of these fan edits/alternative cuts. Consequently, I contacted him through the YouTube site to see if he'd be willing to be interviewed about what compelled him to re-examine the "Donner Cut". He agreed on the condition that we maintain his anonymity out of concerns over copyright issues with Warner Brothers.

Here is a link to Selutron's work on YouTube. You may want to consider watching some or all of his edits and alternative scenes as you read the interview. The Superman Homepage in no way endorses Selutron's work or any other unauthorized amateur film editors' work on "Superman II" or any of the "Superman" movies.

Click here to read the interview with “Superman II” Fan-Editor “Selutron”.



2007 Movie News

Listed below are all the Movie News items archived for 2007 organized into various categories:

“Superman Returns” & Sequel Movie News:

“Justice League of America” Movie News: Christopher Reeve Movie News: Hollywoodland (George Reeves) Movie News: Direct-to-DVD Animated Movie News: Other Movie News:

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