Trivia / Superman III

• Acting for Two: Christopher Reeve in the junkyard fight.
• Awesome, Dear Boy:
  • Richard Lester wasn't a fan of Superman, or comic books in general, but signed on to work with Richard Pryor.
  • Pryor, on the other hand, signed on in part because he was a huge fan of Superman.
• B-Team Sequel: To the Richard Donner-helmed Superman: The Movie and (more or less) Superman II.
• California Doubling: The movie was shot in Calgary and High River, Alberta. Calgary doubled for Metropolis, while High River doubled for Smallville. This continued the trend from the last two films. In fact, the opening to the film takes place in downtown Calgary, as you may notice from the buildings.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Christopher Reeve felt so ashamed about this movie that he swore he'd never play Superman again. It took lots of persuasion to bring him back for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which sadly didn't turn out much better.
  • Richard Pryor wasn't happy with the film, as he'd been looking for more serious roles and was dismayed to find the film was a comedy.
• Deleted Role: Frank Oz originally had a cameo in this film as a surgeon, but the scene was ultimately deleted, though it was later included in the TV extended version of the film.
• Enforced Method Acting: Richard Pryor hated filming the flying scenes, as he was afraid of heights.
• Fake American: Most of the cast in this (and the previous films) consists of British actors, apart from the lead roles, and assume appropriate American accents as needed.
• Milestone Celebration: The film was released in the year of Superman's 45th anniversary.
• Money, Dear Boy: In his autobiography, Richard Pryor admitted that he thought the screenplay for this movie was terrible and he only accepted the role because he was offered $5 million (more than Christopher Reeve got!).
• Promoted Fanboy:
  • Annette O'Toole admitted in an interview for the documentary Look, Up in the Sky! that she loved reading Superman comics as a child, and preferred Lana Lang to Lois Lane.
  • Richard Pryor had been a Superman fan since childhood.
• Refitted for Sequel: The scenes in which Superman straightens the leaning tower of Pisa and then leans it back in the end were originally planned for Superman II.
• Technology Marches On: In one scene, a computer teachers says you can't do two things at once on a computer. Modern-day computers do multiple things at one time as a matter of course.
• Throw It In!: Downplayed — reportedly Richard Pryor was encouraged to ad-lib a lot, but because he was a Superman fan, he mostly stuck to the script.
• Troubled Production: This had perhaps the smoothest production phase of all the Christopher Reeve Superman films, but still had issues. The original script featuring Brainiac, Mister Mxyzptlk, and Supergirl was rejected as too expensive to realize on a budget lower than that of the first two films (plus, they wanted to give Supergirl her own movie). Christopher Reeve did not want to play Superman once again, partly because he was fed up with the role and partly because he felt that Richard Donner had been unfairly treated, leading the producers to scramble for replacements (Tony Danza was heavily considered). It was only when they allowed Reeve veto power over the script that they got him back. Apparently Lois Lane’s role was reduced to five minutes after Margot Kidder publicly expressed sympathy for Richard Donner after the Salkinds fired him. Taking Donner and Kidder’s side, Gene Hackman refused to return for this film. The video game that Ross Webster plays in the film was developed especially for the movie but had to be downgraded because the original version was considered too realistic for 1983. Richard Pryor was coked out of his brains during filming. On top of all that, a threatened lawsuit from the producers of Kramer vs. Kramer forced the originally-planned title, Superman vs. Superman: Superman III to be ditched, after the Salkinds decided it wasn't worth the fight.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Tony Danza was initially chosen to portray Clark Kent before Christopher Reeve agreed to reprise the role. Originally, Reeve threatened not to return for the film due to his dislike of the script and the firing of Richard Donner. However, Reeve accepted the offer to play the titular character again after the producers agreed to let him have input on the movie's script.
    • John Travolta, Jeff Bridges and Kurt Russell were approached for the part of Superman as well before the re-casting of Reeve.
  • Jennifer Jason Leigh was considered for the role of Lana Lang before the casting of Annette O'Toole. However, Leigh was turned down due to the fact that she was considered "too young" for the part.
  • According to Ilya Salkind, the original script was going to involve Brainiac and Mister Mxyzptlk, who would've played by Dudley Moore, teaming up against Superman, who would also meet his cousin, Supergirl, who was adopted by Brainiac. The three characters would have been involved in a Love Triangle, with a jealous Brainiac turning Superman evil and Supergirl agreeing to marry him if he returned Superman to normal. Superman would have made a deal with Mxyzptlk to transport him and Brainiac to another dimension in order to settle the matter without superpowers, which they would have done by jousting in medieval armor.
  • Gus Gorman was meant to be the human guise of Brainiac.
• Working Title: Superman vs. Superman. The producers of Kramer vs. Kramer threatened a lawsuit, refusing to believe the Salkinds' explanation that it was intended as a play on various "Superman vs..." comic stories. Eventually Pierre Spengler suggested that Superman III would be a more sensible title anyway, and the issue was dropped.
• You Look Familiar:
  • The boy at the photo booth is the same actor who played Clark Kent as a child in Superman: The Movie.
  • Pamela Mandell, who played Mrs. Stokis was also the diner waitress in Superman II.
  • Peter Whitman, who played a larger role in Superman II, that of a Sheriff's Deputy, has a minor role here.
  • Gordon Rollings, who plays The Man With Cap during the opening slapstick credits, also appeared briefly in Superman II as The Fisherman who sees the three Supervillains land in the lake.
  • Shane Rimmer, who played one of the NASA guys in the previous film, appears in this film as a sheriff.
  • Larry Lamb, a reporter in the first film, plays a miner in this one.

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