Development Ilya Salkind had first conceived the idea for a Superman film in late 1973. In November 1974, after a long, difficult process with
DC Comics, the Superman
film rights were purchased by Ilya, his father
Alexander Salkind, and their partner
Pierre Spengler. DC wanted a list of actors that were to be considered for Superman, and approved the producer's choices of
Muhammad Ali,
Al Pacino,
James Caan,
Steve McQueen,
Clint Eastwood and
Dustin Hoffman. The filmmakers felt it was best to film
Superman and
Superman II back-to-back, and to make a
negative pickup deal with
Warner Bros. William Goldman was approached to write the screenplay, while
Leigh Brackett was considered. Ilya hired
Alfred Bester, who began writing a
film treatment. Alexander felt, however, that Bester was not famous enough, so he hired
Mario Puzo to write the screenplay at a $600,000 salary. Brando had it in his contract to complete all of his scenes in twelve days. He also refused to memorize his dialogue, so
cue cards were compiled across the set. Fellow
Oscar winner Hackman was cast as Lex Luthor days later. The filmmakers made it a priority to shoot all of Brando's and Hackman's footage "because they would be committed to other films immediately." Benton became too busy directing
The Late Show, so David's wife
Leslie was brought in to help her husband finish writing duties. Their script was submitted in July 1976, Pre-production started at
Cinecittà Studios in Rome, with sets starting construction and flying tests being unsuccessfully experimented. "In Italy", producer Ilya Salkind remembered, "we lost about $2 million [on flying tests]."
Mark Robson was strongly considered and was in talks to direct, but after seeing
The Omen, the producers hired
Richard Donner. Donner had previously been planning
Damien: Omen II when he was hired in January 1977 for $1 million to direct
Superman and
Superman II. Donner was dissatisfied with the campy script and brought in
Tom Mankiewicz to perform a rewrite. According to Mankiewicz, "not a word from the Puzo script was used." Mankiewicz conceived having each Kryptonian family wear a
crest resembling a different letter, justifying the 'S' on Superman's costume. When it was next decided to cast an unknown actor,
casting director Lynn Stalmaster first suggested
Christopher Reeve, but Donner and the producers felt he was too young and skinny. Olympic champion
Caitlyn Jenner auditioned for the title role.
Kris Kristofferson and
Charles Bronson were also considered for the title role.
Warren Beatty was offered the role, but turned it down. James Caan said he was offered the part but turned it down. "I just couldn't wear that suit." "We found guys with fabulous physique who couldn't act or wonderful actors who did not look remotely like Superman", creative consultant
Tom Mankiewicz remembered. The search became so desperate that producer
Ilya Salkind's wife's dentist was
screen tested. instead undertaking a strict
physical exercise regime headed by
David Prowse. Prowse had wanted to portray Superman, but was denied an audition by the filmmakers because he was not American. Prowse also auditioned for
Non. Reeve went from to during pre-production and filming. Reeve earned only $250,000 for both
Superman and
Superman II, while his veteran co-stars received huge sums of money: $3.7 million for Brando and $2 million for Hackman for
Superman. However, Reeve felt, "
Superman brought me many opportunities, rather than closing a door in my face."
Jeff East portrays
teenage Clark Kent. East's lines were
overdubbed by Reeve during post-production. "I was not happy about it because the producers never told me what they had in mind", East commented. "It was done without my permission but it turned out to be okay. Chris did a good job but it caused tension between us. We resolved our issues with each other years later."
Filming Principal photography began on March 28, 1977, at
Pinewood Studios for the Krypton scenes, budgeted as the most expensive film ever made at that point, which was $55 million. Because
Superman was being shot simultaneously with
Superman II, filming lasted nineteen months, until October 1978. Filming was originally scheduled to last between seven and eight months, but problems arose during production.
John Barry served as
production designer, while
Stuart Craig and
Norman Reynolds worked as
art directors.
Derek Meddings and
Les Bowie were credited as
visual effects supervisors.
Stuart Freeborn was the
make-up artist, while Barry,
David Tomblin,
John Glen,
David Lane,
Robert Lynn and an uncredited
Peter Duffell and
André de Toth directed
second unit scenes.
Vic Armstrong was hired as the
stunt coordinator and Reeve's
stunt double; his wife Wendy Leech was Kidder's double.
Superman was also the final complete film by
cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, who died during post-production while working on
Tess for director
Roman Polanski. The
Fortress of Solitude was constructed at
Shepperton Studios and at Pinewood's
007 Stage. Upon viewing the footage of Krypton,
Warner Bros. decided to distribute in not only North America, but also in foreign countries. Due to complications and problems during filming, Warner Bros. also supplied $20 million and acquired
television rights. Filming in New York lasted five weeks, during the time of the
New York City blackout of 1977. Production moved to
Alberta for scenes set in
Smallville, with the cemetery scene filmed in the canyon of
Beynon, Alberta, the high school football scenes at
Barons, Alberta, and the Kent farm constructed at
Blackie, Alberta. Brief filming also took place in
Gallup, New Mexico;
Lake Mead; and
Grand Central Terminal. The filmmakers took a risk: if
Superman was a
box office bomb, they would not finish
Superman II. The original
climax for
Superman II had
General Zod,
Ursa, and
Non destroying the planet, with Superman
time traveling to fix the damage. As detailed in the
Superman: The Movie DVD special effects documentary "The Magic Behind The Cape", presented by optical effects supervisor
Roy Field, in the end, three techniques were used to achieve the flying effects. For landings and take-offs, wire flying-riggings were devised and used. On location, these were suspended from tower cranes, whereas in the studio elaborate rigs were suspended from the studio ceilings. Some of the wire-flying work was quite audacious—the penultimate shot where Superman flies out of the prison yard, for example. Although stuntmen were used, Reeve did much of the work himself, and was suspended as high as in the air. Counterweights and pulleys were typically used to achieve flying movement, rather than electronic or motorized devices. The thin wires used to suspend Reeve were typically removed from the film in post-production using
rotoscope techniques, although this was not necessary in all shots (in certain lighting conditions or when Superman is distant in the frame, the wires were more or less imperceptible). For stationary shots where Superman is seen flying toward or away from the camera, blue screen matte techniques were used. Reeve would be photographed suspended against a blue screen. While a special device made his cape flap to give the illusion of movement, the actor himself would remain stationary (save for banking his body). Instead, the camera would use a mixture of long zoom-ins and zoom-outs and dolly in/dolly outs to cause him to become larger or smaller in the frame. The blue background would then be photochemically removed and Reeve's isolated image would be inserted into a matted area of a background plate shot. The zoom-ins or zoom-outs would give the appearance of flying away or toward the contents of the background plate. The disparity in lighting and color between the matted image and the background plate, the occasional presence of black matte lines (where the
matte area and the matted image—in this case, Superman—do not exactly match up), and the slightly unconvincing impression of movement achieved through the use of zoom lenses is characteristic of these shots. Where the shot is tracking with Superman as he flies (such as in the Superman and Lois Metropolis flying sequence), front projection was used. This involved photographing the actors suspended in front of a background image dimly projected from the front onto a special screen made by 3M that would reflect light back directly into a combined camera/projector. The result was a very clear and intense photographic reproduction of both the actors and the background plate, with far less image deterioration or lighting problems than occur with rear projection. After several failed attempts to use a
motion control system for the flying scenes, which did not work because Reeve's movements could not be precisely repeated for automated multiple exposure, a technique was developed that combined the
front projection effect with specially designed
zoom lenses instead. The highly reflective costumes worn by the Kryptonians are made of the same 3M material used for the front projection screens and were the result of an accident during Superman flying tests. "We noticed the material lit up on its own", Donner explained. "We tore the material into tiny pieces and glued it on the costumes, designing a front projection effect for each camera. There was a little light on each camera, and it would project into a mirror, bounce out in front of the lens, hit the costume, [and] millions of little glass beads would light up and bring the image back into the camera."
Music Jerry Goldsmith, who scored Donner's
The Omen, was originally set to compose
Superman. Portions of Jerry Goldsmith's work from
Planet of the Apes were used in
Superman's teaser trailer. He dropped out over scheduling conflicts, and
John Williams was hired. Williams conducted the
London Symphony Orchestra to record the soundtrack. The music was one of the last pieces to come into place. Williams' "Theme from Superman (Main Title)" was released as a single, reaching number 81 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 and number 69 on the
Cash Box chart. Williams liked that the film did not take itself too seriously, and that it had a theatrical camp feel to it. Kidder was supposed to sing "Can You Read My Mind?", the lyrics to which were written by
Leslie Bricusse, but Donner disliked it and changed it to a composition accompanied by a voiceover. The soundtrack was originally released as a 2-LP set in December 1978, and the same recording was issued on CD for the first time in 1987 (with the tracks "Growing Up" and "Lex Luthor's Lair" omitted to fit the recording onto one disc). A re-recording of the score, conducted by
John Debney and performed by the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, was released by
Varese Sarabande records in 1998. In 2000, an expanded edition of the original score was released on a 2-CD set by
Rhino Records. In February 2008,
Film Score Monthly released an 8-CD boxed set titled
Superman: The Music, including a newly restored complete score on the first two discs, as well as alternates and source cues on disc 8. As part of the film's 40th anniversary in February 2019, La-La Land Records released the fully expanded restoration of Williams' score on a 3-disc set, including the previously issued alternates and source music. == Themes ==