If you were a comic fan, and more than a few years old in the mid-to-late 1990′s, you probably remember hearing about a little film called Superman Lives. The feature was set to be directed by (then arguably at his most popular) Tim Burton, written by Kevin Smith, and starring Nicolas Cage.
Production got to the point where filming was about to begin… and then it was gone. There have been plenty of different stories as to why, but in all honesty, nobody really knows.
Sure, it would have been weird (have you seen the leaked costume test), but that’s not to say it wouldn’t have been good. So what happened?
Early in 2013, director and Geekscape pal Jon Schnepp wanted to find out. He launched a successful Kickstarter campaign for the film, you can now watch the full trailer for the film that just debuted at this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego.
http://youtu.be/Nt9fxWq5qg0
The film looks to be coming together very well, but as often happens, unforeseen circumstances have occurred, and more funds need to be raised. Schnepp has launched a new campaign at SupportSupermanLives.com. Here’s his explanation of the new campaign:
Dear Kickstarters,
I’d like to start by giving a SUPER THANK YOU to all 2,121 of my DOSLWH Kickstarter funders! Without your monetary input and creative support, I would never have even been able to start this Documentary, let alone get to where I’m at with the film now.
The trouble with some Kickstarters is the unseen, the unknown, the unexpected. I planned on making this film, and put the work in, but like many other Kickstarters, I did not allot enough money in my initial crowd sourcing goal for legal, for music, for image clearances, for travel and transport, for changing crews, for mailing out incentives, and most importantly, TIME. I did my best to estimate the projected cost of this documentary, but have since learned it was impossible to foresee some of the hurdles I’ve encountered.
I did not think it would take so long to make this documentary, but once I started to uncover more about this film and talked with the people involved in trying to bring it to life, the creativity and sparks just kept firing, and I realized that I needed to keep going. Could I have finished the film last year? YES, but would it be what it stands to be now? Not even close. I now have interviews running the gamut from Kevin Smith to Steve Johnson to Grant Morrison to Tim Burton himself. And patience is what has made each of these and ALL of the incredible interviews in the documentary possible.
So thank you all AGAIN for hanging in there with me throughout this process, and for understanding that although I did not make my ORIGINAL release date of winter 2013, ‘The Death of Superman Lives’: What Happened? will now be 1000 times better for the extra time, effort and expense put in.
I’m in need of your help now if you can give it. The last eight months have been full of incredible highs and unforeseen lows, and though I’ve gotten a ton of amazing interviews, in addition, I’ve had to contend with a slate of unexpected expenses including surprise medical bills, equipment repair fees, and various other unplanned costs.
The $103,000 that was originally raised for this project on Kickstarter last year (after Kickstarter/Amazon’s 10% was taken out), was $5000 over my initial $98,000 budget. With hindsight, this amount was roughly $75,000 under what I should have actually asked for. The eight months of additional time, on top of the above mentioned unanticipated costs, have left me in need of another wave of funding! Suffice to say, I’m in need of some crowd sourced super heroics from some of you!!!
I’ve come up with two new donation level rewards that I’m going to offer here first right now, and then expand it to the wider online web community next week. Once again, this offer will be exclusive to the 2,121 Kickstarters who helped me raise the initial money to get this doc on its feet, and will carry me 100% of the way to my newly extended finish line.
Before I officially launch my Finishing Fundraiser online, I’m first reaching out with this limited offer to all of you based on the overwhelming amount of emails I’ve received requesting higher donation tiers and additional rewards following the end of the Kickstarter last year. By going to my website, http://www.schneppzone.com/supermanlives/, and contributing the amount that you select below, you will be key players in reaching the Finishing Fundraiser goal I need to complete the film, AND I am offering some new fantastic rewards!!!
If you’re a regular ‘scapist, you probably recognize Schnepp’s name. Jon is of course a director and producer of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse, former editor of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and director of the ‘W’ segment from The ABC’s of Death, and he’s also a good friend of Geekscape who we featured on the podcast for episodes 264, 311, and 318 (among other things).
Take a look at the new campaign’s video below, and you can head here to back the project! Are you looking forward to seeing the full feature? Sound out below!
http://youtu.be/2AA0ZIn4jtE