More first-published images from the portfolio of ‘PartkStreetParrot’ featuring the M25 location for the final scenes of ‘Superman IV: The Quest For Peace’ –
From the top – Christopher Reeve makes off with his chair & script, The crew setting up shot with Lex Luthor’s ‘Stunt’ and ‘Picture’ car, Reeve conferring with Director Sidney J. Furie and actor Jon Cryer and repairs to the apparently overheating ‘Hero’ car during shooting…
Extraordinary never-before-seen images from the portfolio of ‘ParkStreetParrot’ and his close encounter with the filming of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace on the London Orbital.
From the top – Christopher Reeve confers with Gene Hackman & Jon Cryer, a wide shot of the crew and ramp rig, (to simulate the car being hoisted from beneath) Billboard set-dressing and the two cars used for the sequence (note the ‘stunt’ car held aloft by wires).
To be continued..!
Another SUPERMANIA exclusive, courtesy of photographer ‘ParkStreetParrot’ who tells his remarkable story about discovering the cast & crew of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace on location towards the end of the shoot –
“The photos were taken on 10 October 1986, a few weeks before the M25 opened (the official opening ceremony occurred about a mile from this location between Junction 21 and 22, by Margaret Thatcher)
Its a long time ago, but I must have had a day off, I received local intelligence that this was happening (I had a relative that was involved in the M25 project ).
There was remarkably little security by today’s standards. I arrived with my trusty Canon A1 and took a couple of rolls of film. Most of these pictures have never been seen before. I may have processed the films myself, I did that with black and white films. The quality is not so good and may have been down to poor processing!
I learned a couple of lessons at this event . I wanted to supply some pictures to a local newspaper, so I called them – but they asked me where it was happening and I told them so they sent their own guy! The second lesson was that you have to hang about, even if its getting tedious and nothing is happening – I didn’t do this and went home after about 3 hours. Later in the day, maybe because the light was better later, Christopher Reeve (or the stuntman) was filmed underneath the car, pretending to fly away with it – these were the pictures that appeared in the local paper a few days later – D’oh!!
Since that time, this part of the M25 has become one of the busiest sections (if you imagine a clock face its at the 12 o’ clock position), and the motorway has just been widened to accommodate another lane each side…”
The above is a selection of never-before-seen prints reproduced here with the kind permission of the photographer with more to follow in upcoming posts…!
More pages of Martin Asbury sketched action from the global clash between Superman and Nuclearman II.
Of note are omitted scenes where Superman freezes his nemesis hands with Super-Breath in defence against being clawed. The theatrical cut picks up as Nuclearman retaliates by freezing Superman into a block of ice…
SUPERMANIA is pleased to report that progress continues on the Superman IV trading card project now that designs have been refined by SuperFan Alexei Lambley-Steel to better match cards from the era (In the late ’80’s card numbers were relegated to the rear and titles were changed to uppercase!), while the descriptive card backs telling the story (written by myself) are currently at the halfway point.
As we are presenting the set based on an idealized version of the the film in its complete, uncut form, the story is being adapted using both the DC Comics Special and the novelisation by B.B Hiller. This presents the opportunity to use images from cut scenes while filling in the gaping plot holes from the theatrical version in an attempt to make it a coherent whole. While my archive of quality stills is used in its entirety, Alex and I agreed the only way to convey the story properly was to use screengrabs, the first excellent results of which we present above.
Stay tuned for further updates of this exciting project..!