SUPERMANIA is pleased to report the Superman IV trading card project is still not only very much alive, but finally nearing completion. A complex and time-consuming endeavour due to the volume of cards to be produced (99 In total, comprised of a mixture of original and screen captured images) with an all-new adaptation of the complete story (written by myself) of the longest cut of the film serialised on the card backs.
This, along with design and execution painstakingly researched to appear authentic for the era, is intended to fill the void left by the only Superman Movie never to have produced a card set of its own. Talented Alexei Lambley-Steel (editor of A Tribute To Christopher Reeve) is currently hard at work composing the final base set with a view to adding a sticker set/wrapper on its completion.
Updates to follow..!
Another glimpse into the SUPERMANIA unpublished archive and the making of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace –
On location in the Hertfordshire countryside, the crew amass outside to shoot scenes of the tornado rescue. Under Sidney J. Furie’s direction, Christopher Reeve patiently hovers in his flying harness (note the green crane in top pic) while the stricken family (with children played by Reeve’s own) look on.
The entire sequence of Nuclearman generating a cyclone and the subsequent devastation was cut for US audiences but reinstated for its European release…
More from the SUPERMANIA collection of exclusive behind the scenes material, this time on the Elstree Studios set of Luthor’s Lair atop Metropolis Tower.
These never-before-seen pics convey the considerable scale and splendid Art Deco design of Production designer John Graysmark’s set arguably better than what’s seen in the finished picture. From the top, a candid moment between actors Jon Cryer (Lenny Luthor) and Mark Pillow’s Nuclearman, Gene Hackman awaiting direction with his dance instructor while Sidney J. Furie confers with crew, actors William Hootkins, Stanley Lebor and Jim Broadbent (in his first film role) converse with Hackman & Cryer relaxing between takes, and shooting the face off between Nuclearman and Christopher Reeve’s Superman toward the end of the picture…
The exclusive behind the scenes images from the SUPERMANIA collection continue – this time from the Kent Farm set faithfully recreated in the village of Baldock in Hertfordshire, England.
From the top – Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent observing the preparation of the air cannon to fire the baseball, (a similar technique was used for the football in the Smallville scenes of Superman: The Movie) the crew gathering round to rehearse the scene, (notice Reeve still brandishing the bat in the centre) Director Sidney J. Furie conferring with Reeve (far Left) by the remains of the Kent Farm, and Reeve stood next to his double for the walk up the dusty trail for Clark’s opening shot as Furie is presented with the storyboard…
The amazing vintage behind the scenes images from the unpublished SUPERMANIA’78 collection keep coming – this time on the Backlot of Elstree Studios with the battle between Superman & Nuclearman I shot on cold winter nights in 1986.
From the top – Christopher Reeve atop one of the many primitive apparatus rigged to assist the illusion of takeoff, actor Clive Mantle wielding the lamp-post prop he’s ripped from the ground moments before to use as a club – a bystanders view of the Metropolis street set (notice the trailer for the trashed cars and the various signs that appear throughout the movie) and finally Reeve & Mantle confer surrounded by crew members…
