Trivia / Supergirl (1984)

• All-Star Cast: Not to the extent of Superman and its sequels, but besides Faye Dunaway (Selena) and Peter O'Toole (Zaltar), there's Peter Cook (as Nigel, Selena's mentor), Mia Farrow (Kara's mother), and Brenda Vaccaro (Selena's sidekick), all of whom have reputations comparable to the parent franchise's players.
• Award Category Fraud: Peter O'Toole was nominated for Worst Actor at the Razzies despite having less than 15 minutes of screentime.
• Billing Displacement: Faye Dunaway is billed before Helen Slater in the credits. It was the same way in the original Superman, with the villain billed before Superman.
• Blooper: In one of the scenes with Selena and the protesters, a large puddle of water suddenly appears. This is because in an extended version of the scene, Selena turned one woman into an ice statue and shattered it. The sequence was cut but the water remains.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $35 million. Box office, $14.2 million.
• B-Team Sequel: Richard Lester turned down the producers' offer to direct the movie.
• Channel Hop: The film was originally released theatrically by TriStar Pictures after Warner Bros. and the Salkinds had clashed over the film's release date (the former party wanted a summer release and the latter wanted a holiday release). On video, it was released through USA Home Video (and its successors, IVE and Live/Avid), and finally Anchor Bay Entertainment, which released the Director's Cut and (for the first time in the U.S.), the longer International Cut on DVD. In 2006, WB acquired all rights to the film from Canal+, the film's then-owner.
• Creator Killer: Faye Dunaway's career was already hanging by a thread after the massive flop of Mommie Dearest. This one put it to bed for good.
• Darkhorse Casting: Much like Christopher Reeve, Helen Slater was cast because the producers wanted to cast an unknown.
• Dawson Casting: Lucy Lane is played by actress Maureen Teefy, who was 31 when the film came out. It's not clear what age Jimmy Olsen is supposed to be, given that he's a professional news photographer who is dating a high school student, but the actor Marc McClure is actually younger than Teefy, at 27.
• Executive Meddling: Tri-Star Pictures cut the film's runtime down from 138 minutes to a mere 105, leaving glaring continuity errors, and the film subsequently made less sense. A Director's Cut was released on DVD in 2000, along with the U.S. debut of the "International Cut" which runs 20 minutes longer than the American version.
• Franchise Killer: The film's failure not only prevented Supergirl from becoming a film franchise like Superman Film Series, but was also partly responsible for getting the character killed off in Crisis on Infinite Earths as well. It also led to the Salkinds selling the Superman film rights to Cannon, leading to the infamous Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
• Genre-Killer: This is the movie that sent the budding superheroine genre into a hole, and Catwoman (2004) and Elektra dug it even further. Wonder Woman eventually broke the curse in 2017.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: The Anchor Bay releases had as many as three different cuts of the film (U.S., international, director's) plus a director's commentary track, storyboards set to music, teasers, trailers and TV ads, the original promotional featurette, etc. When Warner Bros. acquired the film in 2006, their DVD release included only the international cut, the commentary, and one trailer. By the time WB released a Blu-Ray of Supergirl, the director's cut went missing, and the studio was forced to release it in SD as a special feature alongside the international cut in HD. By comparison, Lionsgate ended up with the same producers and director's Santa Claus: The Movie and ported over the similarly-elaborate Anchor Bay release in its entirety, down to the menus (and tacking on trailers for other Lionsgate Christmas-themed movies before the main menu).
• Recursive Adaptation: This comic-book movie was adapted into a one-shot comic-book written and illustrated by Joey Cavalieri and Gray Morrow.
• Stillborn Franchise: A trilogy was planned, focusing on more of Supergirl's adventures. Obviously the poor critical reception and box office put a halt to those plans.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The movie was originally going to use a brand new costume design for Supergirl, and there are even test shots of Helen Slater wearing it. The producers changed their minds at the last minute, and decided to go with the classic Supergirl look instead. However, the comics had already adopted the new look to better line up with the movie, and Supergirl ended up wearing it until her death in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
  • An early draft of the script had Bianca as Selena's advisor and mentor. With her help, Selena launched a coup to take over ruling the Circle from Nigel, then betrayed Bianca and left her mad after being corrupted by her newfound power. Ethan and Supergirl would then free Selena, initiating a Heel–Face Turn. Selena was Easily Forgiven and left to go to Argo City with Kara.
  • Brooke Shields was so close to getting the role of Supergirl but was ultimately overruled at the urging of co-producer Ilya Salkind, who wanted an unknown. It was a decision Ilya later regretted. Melanie Griffith was also considered.
  • Demi Moore was originally slated to play Lucy Lane, but backed out to work on Blame It on Rio.
  • John Travolta was approached to play Ethan.
  • Dudley Moore had been offered $4 million to play Zaltar, but turned down the offer and suggested his former TV partner Peter Cook play Nigel.
  • The plot was originally going to involve Supergirl rescuing Superman from Selene. It was changed when Christopher Reeve refused to take part in the movie.
  • Robert Wise turned down the offer to direct this film.
  • Dolly Parton was offered $7 million to play Selena, but she turned it down because she was uncomfortable playing a witch. Jane Fonda and Goldie Hawn also turned it down.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Sandra Dickinson (Pretty Young Lady) previously played the wife in Superman III.
  • "Sound familiar" with Perrette Pradier in the French dub. She dubbed both Selena and Margot Kidder's Lois Lane (in Superman: The Movie, Superman II and Superman III).

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