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2007 Movie News Archives

February 10, 2007: Tom Mankiewicz Interview

SupermanCinema.co.uk has published an indepth interview with Tom Mankiewicz, creative consultant on "Superman: The Movie" and "Superman II", in which he discusses the firing of Richard Donner, his views on the Salkinds, and much more. Here's an excerpt from the interview...

Tom:

Superman 2

I can only think it has greed. You've already paid Brando $3 million, you've got the 4 scenes in the can, why pay Susannah Yorke, who is a nice woman and a wonderful actress, but had nothing to do with the story.

She was joking with me when Brando put the kid in the capsule, "Wow, the father sends everything what does the mother send?" And I said, "When you're getting $3 million for 23 days work you get to send everything too."

They put Susannah back in Superman 2 but it didn't make any sense, narrative wise.

Q: In the Superman 2 commentary, Ilya takes the opposite view; the mother should be counseling the son about love.

Tom: Christ, we're in the movie business, guys - Marlon Brando is the biggest movie star in the world and you have him in four scenes that were already shot what the hell are you replacing him with Susannah Yorke, come on that's the cheapest explanation I've ever heard.

Read the complete interview at the Superman Cinema website.