SUPERMANIA celebrates Easter with by bringing you these fascinating, never-before published photos from an old family album.
Taken on what looks like a balmy day in Canada in 1982, April DeJong & family took a road trip to watch filming of a memorable sequence in Superman III and managed to grab the photos above. April picks up the story from here –
“I called my dad, he remembers we were going on a family road trip (we lived in Edmonton) and he and my mom heard they were filming Superman south of Calgary. He found out where they were shooting and we just tried, and found it, and asked if my brother could get a pic with him etc. My dad can’t remember all of the details, just that Mr. Reeve was very gracious to take a few moments during a break to let my brother chat with him and get a picture with him. My brother was over the moon..!”
For a sequence which many fans still hail as one of the best wire-work landings in the series, Christopher Reeve hangs about between takes (top pic) before hiding out in the prop trailer (second pic) and shooting the scene with the emergency services after failing to prevent the crashed truck from falling off the bridge into the lake.
All in a days work for a Superhero however as Reeve later kicks back in the shade for one last pic with April’s lucky brother, who obviously enjoyed his close encounter with the Man of Steel…
(Images © April DeJong 1982/2017)
With 50 years in the business, its inevitable that you will have seen Mr. Paul Weston in numerous genre classics and most likely not even realised.
With an impressive (most impressive) resume that boasts seminal pictures like ALIEN, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Return Of The Jedi, Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves and Bond films The Living Daylights, Octopussy and Moonraker to name but a few, it should come as no surprise Paul would also lend his talents and expertise to the big screen adventures of the Man of Steel.
“I worked on Superman’s one, two and three, the veteran stuntman, co-ordinator and second – unit Director revealed to SUPERMANIA this past weekend at MCM Comic-Con –
“Chris Reeve was just lovely. He came in and he was so young – just a kid – and he was tall and broad but he had no chest, it was flat. I remember they made him up a padded suit, like the Batman ones now and he wouldn’t have it, he went straight to the gym. After a while they brought in Dave Prowse and when he was ready he looked fantastic.
When we had him up in the air the first few times he was learning how to hold himself so he was streamlined. We found that unless he pointed his toes it didn’t look right but it was hard to do, hold yourself like that. We’d be down on the ground shouting up at him ‘POINT YOUR TOES CHRIS!’ and when he did he’d got it. It became so much of a thing on set that when he eventually went home on Concorde, we had the pilot announce over the tannoy ‘Would a Mr. Christopher Reeve remember to keep his toes pointed in flight’. He loved that.
“Everything you see in the Junkyard battle in Part III that isn’t Chris himself is me. We worked really hard on that scene. There were instances where we both had to be in the same shot and they super-imposed his face over mine. In The Making Of Superman III you can see me on the swing being thrown into the car crusher.
I had Superman belt and a pair of boots – I kept them for years but eventually I just threw them away. Same with ALIEN, I had a costume, pipes on the back and everything but that was thrown too. Back then these things had no worth, its all different now. I heard the ALIEN costume would’ve fetched literally thousands but there you go…”
Obviously not one for hanging on to souvenirs, very few pictures of Paul on the Superman sets exist so he was kind enough to sign a still of his late friend Chris for SUPERMANIA (top pic) while the remainder of them are borrowed form Paul’s fantastic website – these rare pics show Paul on the Chemical Plant set (second from top), consulting with fellow Stuntman Roy Alon in Calgary for the fire hydrant crash and celebrating in the early days at Pinewood (bottom) with the news of Chris Reeve’s impending fatherhood.
Still very much active in the industry, Paul finds time to attend conventions and give talks on his fascinating career and is always happy to share stories with fans. Should you wish to catch him he has an upcoming event in December at GATA where he is hosting an evening called ‘My Life In Stunts’ which is sure to be another Super-Occasion…
At arguably the height of his fame and looking cool on the cover (top) of the UK Observer Sunday magazine, Christopher Reeve gives a great candid interview to Lesley Thornton on the week of the British release of Superman III.
Clearly enamoured with the then 30-year old superstar, the interviewer manages to record Reeve’s career and insights economically and with charm – highlighting that though a big part of his success to may have been attributed to something he despised (youth marketing and sequels) the Superman films were kept to a good standard, even though this would allegedly be his last…
