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…
Taking its rightful place as the centrepiece in an exhibition charting a trio of cinematic Sci-Fi anniversaries, an original Superman costume stands proudly among selected screen used props currently showcased in Moyes’s Hall Museum UK.
Celebrating its 8th Sci-Fi Action exhibition in acknowledgement of 30 years of the Alien franchise, 40 years since the camera’s rolled on the original Star Wars and 50 years of Star Trek, the West Suffolk site is currently housing over 100 items of memorabilia from these enduring saga’s and more.
Described as ‘Perhaps the most iconic Movie costume of all time’ and on loan from Propstore, the Christopher Reeve Superman display has had somewhat of an upgrade since it was last seen in public at Covent Garden in 2012. Although the costume remains the same combination of mis-matched tunic & tights last seen by SUPERMANIA on the Propstore tour, it has apparently been neatly re-mounted on the mannequin with a new \S/ shield base and the cape now sports its yellow patch – missing since the original display since its first appearance in 2010. Stephen Lane himself told me he had the shield in storage the whole time (which accounts for its clean appearance) but had yet to re-attach it – making this the very first time the costume has been displayed 100% complete.
Superfan Andrew Hanton took the fantastic pics above and had this to say about his close encounter –
“My wife works in Bury St Edmunds and said she had seen a leaflet about a small sci-fi exhibition in Bury’s Moyse’s Hall Museum in the town centre. I wasn’t too interested as I usually attend the big Showmasters Comicon events said ‘Mmm I don’t think I’ll bother’ – then she said ‘they have Christopher Reeve’s Superman suit on display!’ Well my reaction was ‘No way!!’
Sure enough it was true so the next day we drove to Bury to see the costume, when I walked in the room I couldn’t believe my eyes – it was a dream come true for me – a Superman and in particular a Christopher Reeve fan since the age of 8 (I’m now 41). There it stood in a glass case and to top it off it was standing proud on a Christopher Reeve mannequin.
Although a little battered & bruised it looked amazing and to be up close to the real thing was overwhelming, the tunic was a little faded but for me that added to it, as the ‘S’ stood out vibrant in colour and proud.
We were allowed to take as many pictures and video it as we liked which was brilliant, apart from seeing this iconic suit for me it affirmed the authenticity of my ‘Super Costumes’ replica as I have to say mine is pretty damn close to the original which makes me even more pleased with it.
All in all a wonderful day and only £5 to get in – who’d of thought I’d get to fulfill a life long dream – seeing a Superman costume & in little old Bury St Edmunds…!”
The exhibition runs until Sunday November 13th so be quick if you want to share the experience of seeing it for yourself – click on the tab in the right hand column for details and be sure to leave comments here about your visit..!
Edition One of Merit Publications magazine is quite the enigma given that there were no subsequent issues and that it is arguably one of the finest pieces of vintage Superman items produced in conjunction with the movie.
Though it proclaims to showcase Warner Bros. New films, it is actually an elegant portfolio of photographs and accompanying text all from Superman: The Movie featuring the best publicity stills and some uncommon prints. Anybody seeking info on Clint Eastwood’s and Stanley Kubrick’s latest would’ve felt short-changed as coverage amounts to nothing more than ads for Every Which Way But Loose and The Shining inside the back cover.
As if the glorious layouts (above) were not enough, the centrefold is a pull-out poster of the iconic ‘Punch’ shot taken by Bob Penn in New York in 1977 – all of the above making this the ideal companion piece to the Collectors Album and SUPERMANIA’s recommendation for an inexpensive addition to the perfect Super-library…
Coming soon – The Japanese edition…
Presenting the latest piece of vintage memorabilia to be added to the SUPERMANIA archive – this unique poster magazine was released exclusively in Spain and is so rare this is the first and only copy seen in decades of collecting.
The Superman Movies have a long and rich history with this most ’80’s of collecting staples. Most big genre movies of the decade were awarded with similar colourful fold-outs which would adorn many a childhood bedroom wall until, much like cinematic events themselves, their fade into obscurity.
Whereas the foldout format would be limited to European/UK shores (with II and III upcoming in future posts) Stateside offerings would be appropriately heftier affairs with the glossy magazines for Superman III and IV by Starlog Press emerging as arguably the best tie-in’s for each picture – both of which will also appear here soon..!
So there may be no reveals of anything classic movie-era related coming out of New York Toyfair this month but its always nice to get something unexpected (and with no agonising waiting time) appear from nowhere.
Even having played a similar trick with their extremely popular left-field release of a 7″ tall Keaton Batman ’89 figure, it still seemed unlikely in the extreme that NECA could afford Superman similar treatment – they even said as much on Twitter and besides, didn’t Mattel have the license??
So imagine the surprise when a perfectly formed little cousin of their monster 1/4 scale pops up on the NECA website alongside an equally unanticipated Adam West ’66 Batman.
Released in conjunction with WB as a DVD Incentive (apparently the only way they were granted permission to do it) these beauties literally flew off the shelves of TRU’s all over the country and soon became the dream item of your favourite auction site’s opportunist. As for those of us across Europe desperately wanting that hole in their childhood filled too, ‘screw you’ seemed to be the prevailing attitude as this was to be a Stateside promotion only with no worldwide release pending.
Luckily for SUPERMANIA, friends and fellow SuperFans would come to the rescue and send a pair over the pond for the collection.
In hand, the figure is somewhat of a marvel but, as is common knowledge by now, their QC is abominable. The stories of limbs snapping off like toothpicks are 100% true and the chances of finding one with without a careless paintjob were slimmer than finding one at all.
NECA got many things right. The headsculpt (always a contentious issue) is superb, and the cloth cape mounting is the best on any Superman figure to date. The packaging is a delight (scaling down the 1/4 scale to even better effect) instantly making this the toy you always wanted to open at Christmas.
Naturally its not all good news. While the decal for the cape shield is a good effort, the chest logo is just as awful as the Quarter scale (where there was no excuse either) and the focal point for the worst of the paint QC. The proportions are also slightly odd, skinny arms, narrow shoulders and short legs compounded by the thinnest belt rendering on a Reeve Superman figure so far (even Mattel got this right). The boots go some way to making up for this but when its posed (providing you didn’t snap both legs clean off) he appears slightly bow legged.
As SUPERMANIA was one of the many infuriated by having the figure broken within seconds releasing it from the package, the decision was made to customise it, the results appearing above. Thankfully this figure needed little in the way of adjustment to make more movie-accurate. Printable fabric patches took care of both under-par shields (first/third pics) a little work with a craft knife added a parting to the hair (repainted to match Reeve’s hairline for the Donner years, second pic). and taking an iron to the cape (careful with this!!) made all the difference. It was finished with gloss coat on the belt and satin on the boots. Posed against the Hot Toys diorama (which the scale is far better suited to) and posed appropriately the result speaks for itself.
SUPERMANIA wished to thank James Sawyer (of 1989BATMAN.com and SuperFan Brian Adriaansen for their kind assistance with this post..!!
