Superman Lives: The Cancelled Film That Made Nicolas Cage $20 Million
It's hard to think of any other character in American pop culture that's been the subject of as many different forms of media as DC Comic's Superman. Wal-Mart is filled with action figures of the cap adorning hero. TV shows like Smallville and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman feature his countless daring adventures for adoring fans to enjoy.
But, aside from comic books, movies are the biggest realm in which the caped crusader shines. Ever since he made his big budget, feature film debut in Richard Donner's Superman, starring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, the character has been one DC Comics biggest cash cows.
While most fans remember such classics as Superman Return and the poorly received Man of Steel, there's one adaptation that seem to slip the conversation of the superhero's iconography. While it now stands a relatively obscure meme on social media, the tale of Nicholas Cage's canned appearance as Superman is nothing if not a comedy of errors. One of the biggest pitfall in the pre-production phase: an ill-fitted super suit and some infamous red briefs.
While we all know Tim Burton for his whimsical take son tales like Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Alice In Wonderland, the 90's saw him make a splash in the realm of superhero's when he took on the master of grimness himself, Batman. After the successes of Batman and Batman Returns, DC Comics was sure that the director knew his way around crafting an engaging superhero flick. Thus, he was slated to direct Superman Lives in 2003.
There were a handful of scripts jockeyed around the project, with most concepts heavily influenced by the "Death of Superman" arc in the comics. Notably, Kevin Smith's adaptation of the story garnered much approval from the studio. The character of Brainiac was said to either be played by Jim Carrey or Gary Oldman. Though the headlining actor to take on the role of Clark Kent was none other than Nicholas Cage. Burton and Cage both had a on of ideas for the project, workshopping each with one another.
The story was set to uncover a new aspect of Kent's character, looking deeply into his identify as an alien and how in intertwined with his life on Earth. Additionally, they had strong intentions of producing a family friendly superhero adventure.
"Superman is of a child's universe. It's a movie that'll appeal to everyone. It's a great story and it's an icon that's been around for over fifty years. All the age groups will go, but it really belongs to the children," Cage explains in a statement according to Hollywood Outbreak, "I thought, with this character, there's something in the story - that he's alien, that he's an outsider, that he feels different. If one kid who's being called a weirdo at school and he hangs on to this idea that Superman feel like a weirdo, then I feel like I've done my job as an actor. Then I did something important."
What would Superman be without his iconic superhero get up? Getting the character's outfit just right is an integral part of any adaptation of this paramount figure in the lexicon of American superheroes.
Within the unseen story of Superman Lives, Superman would have been seen sporting a number of different costumes. Though, initially, the film's producer Jon Peters was completely against the idea of Superman wearing a suit. Ideas from Peters included Superman fighting a giant spider in the third act of the film and somehow involved polar bears. There was clearly a miscommunication of ideas behind the scenes that surely contributed to the film being canned.
But luckily, leaked images of Cage's test suit started circulating the internet. It was also displayed in Jon Schnepp's documentary about the production, The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?
A major aspect of Superman Lives' grim fate of being tossed into the garbage bin of DC's ideas was timing. The company had recently released a number of flops like Batman & Robin and Steel. Seeing as how they were on a streak of striking out in the box office, execs just weren't looking to finance another film that could potential put their business in a hole.
"Unfortunately, while we were working on the script, Warner Bros was hemorrhaging," concept artist Rolf Mohr laments, "Every big movie that was coming out was bombing and failing and when it came time to step up and bankroll our script, they didn't have the financial wherewithal or desire. Which is a shame because Tim would have knocked it out of the park. And Nic Cage, oh my god! I was so ready for that."
Though Cage didn't get to don the infamous Superman cap in live action, he achieved his dream of portraying the caped crusader in 2018. He was the voice of Superman in Cartoon Network's movie Teen Titan's Go.
"It wasn't really the version that Tim Burton and I had in mind, but it was just fun. It was terrific," Cage told USA Today, "It was just nice to be involved in something my kid loves and we got to do it together."
While fans can only wonder what could have become of the movie had it made it to the big screen, they're not too sure if the test suit would have been a good fit.
Sources: Hollywood Outbreak, Movie Web, Cinema Blend, USA Today
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