Happy new year to all from SUPERMANIA as the mission to bring you rare and unseen ephemera from the classic film series continues anew!
We launch 2014 proper with unpublished stills provided courtesy of an old friend of the site who once again has been kind enough to share these all-new discoveries from his archive. Longtime followers of SUPERMANIA may recall the fascinating set of images provided by ‘Parkstreetparrot’ who was fortunate enough to be tipped off about the shooting of a new movie taking place on the final unopened stretch of what was to become the M25 London orbital motorway in the UK.
The new colour prints above show the filmmaking process with more clarity than ever as stars Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Jon Cryer and crew confer between setups for Superman IV: The Quest For Peace.
According to the source, word had spread fast that location shooting was taking place out in the open with minimal security so the British press had made a beeline to the site. By this time, convinced he had enough material to sell to the press himself, the source left the scene only to miss the shooting of Superman flying off with Lex getaway car! This would be the scoop that made all the papers the following day…
It’s wonderful to see Reeve again in these photos…..But my God was this film aweful. It was an embarrassment to the series and the entire cast of professionals. I knew as soon as I heard Cannon was involved that this was going to be a disaster. Just look at how cheap the sets look! And a man of Gene Hackman’s pedigree must have been insulted wearing that ridiculous costume. God Bless Christopher Reeve. He was the best Superman and an amazing human being. He is missed.