More than a decade before Christopher Nolan revolutionized the superhero movie genre, the collective creative powerhouse talents of Kevin Smith, Tim Burton and Nicolas Cage were primed to do the same thing. To cinema’s eternal loss, however, it never came to pass — and now The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened wants to tell the world why.
A new trailer has been released to coincide with a second campaign to raise the funds necessary to complete Jon Schnepp’s crowdfunded documentary, which looks into the troubled history of the ill-fated production from the 1990s. Alongside interviews with Burton, Smith and others, including comic book writer Grant Morrison, the documentary also features rare and unseen footage shot during preproduction. The trailer is worth watching for Smith’s description of fan response to the movie alone: “Even though the Internet didn’t exist, the Internet was still mad,” he deadpans.
Schnepp updated the progress of the documentary in his appeal for more funding, writing that “the last eight months have been full of incredible highs and unforeseen lows,” including “surprise medical bills, equipment repair fees, and various other unplanned costs that weren’t factored into my original campaign.”
As of writing, almost $65,000 of the necessary $85,000 has been raised, with 21 days of the campaign left to run. Proof, if nothing else, that almost everyone wants to see more of the interview with Tim Burton in which he complains about being reminded of the project by asking “Why are you bringing up such painful memories? I’ve just, in the last year, finally recovered from the shaking.”
