Trivia

Guy Hamilton was originally hired to direct this movie, which was scheduled to shoot in Italy. When production was moved to England for monetary reasons, Hamilton backed out because of his status at the time as a tax exile, meaning he could only be in England for thirty days out of every year.

During screen tests for the role of Superman, the role of Lois Lane was played by Holly Palance.

After the success of Rocky, Sylvester Stallone lobbied hard to play Clark Kent/Superman, but he was ultimately turned down. Stallone found out that Marlon Brando, who had casting approval, turned him down for the role, just as he had allegedly vetoed Burt Reynolds' casting as Sonny in The Godfather. (Responding to that rumor, Brando told Playboy Magazine interviewer Lawrence Gobel "Francis [Francis Ford Coppola] would never have cast Burt Reynolds.") Stallone subsequently went on Merv Griffin's talk show and denounced Brando, saying he had no respect for the superstar as an actor or as a man. This surprised many as the early Stallone (as had the early Burt Reynolds) had clearly modeled himself after Brando, particularly Brando's characterization of Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront in his own role as Stanley Rosiello in The Lord's of Flatbush, a man named "Stanley" (a la Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire who had a coop of pigeons on his tenement roof (like Terry Malloy). This mimicry might have been one of the the reasons Brando reportedly had such antipathy for both actors. Stallone later explained that he felt that it was hypocritical that Brando, whom stated on numerous occasions that he took the role of Jor-El simply as a paycheck and nothing more, vetoed him for the role of Superman. Unlike Brando, Stallone grew up emulating and idolizing Clark Kent/Superman (and continues to) as well as having a great love for the comics mythology. Ironically, in his review for the Stallone film Rocky, Roger Ebert called Stallone "the next Marlon Brando".

As a nod to the original comics, Clark Kent is seen briefly considering a phone booth as a place to convert into his alter-ego for the first time, before deciding on another solution.

The development of the best method to show Superman flying was a long period of experimentation. The methods attempted included simply catapulting a dummy into the air, a remote control model airplane painted as the character and simply animating the flying sequences. The producers settled for a combination of forward projection and specially designed zoom lenses that could create the illusion of movement by zooming in on Christopher Reeve while making the forward projection appear to recede. For scenes where Superman has to interact with other people or objects while in flight, Reeve and fellow actors were put in a variety of rigging equipment with careful lighting and photography to hide the equipment.

Gene Hackman flatly refused to shave his head or wear a "bald cap" to play Lex Luthor. To get around this issue, Hackman's own natural hair was styled differently from scene to scene to give the appearance of him having changed hairpieces. Numerous hairpieces are visible in his underground complex. Hackman relented and wore a skullcap in one scene: when he is taken to prison by Superman. It is visible when he angrily rips off his hairpiece to address the prison's warden who questions who he is. Hackman was also forced to shave off his mustache, which he was keen on keeping at the time.

Clark Kent's and Superman's hair part on opposite sides.

The Writer's Guild of America (WGA) gave screenplay credit to Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman and Robert Benton, although many involved with the production, including director Richard Donner, credit Tom Mankiewicz with writing much of the final shooting script. To make up for the WGA omitting Mankiewicz' name from the screenplay credits, Donner gave him a "creative consultant" credit, which appears after the screenplay credit during the opening titles sequence.

The end titles sequence is more than seven minutes long, a record at the time of the film's release in 1978.

Richard Donner first asked Jerry Goldsmith to do the score, and Goldsmith agreed. However, a schedule conflict came about and John Williams eagerly replaced Goldsmith, who six years later would write the music for Supergirl.

The movie's original ending had Superman saving California, restructuring the San Andreas fault and then throwing the second missile into space which cracked the Phantom Zone and releasing the three super-villains. Superman turning the world around was originally conceived as the ending of Superman II to make Lois forget Superman's secret identity.

During the scene in which Superman and Lois go flying together and then Superman flies away, there is no cut between Superman flying away and Clark showing up at Lois's door. This was done using a prerecorded movie of Superman flying away on a screen with Lois standing in front of it. Then, as she walks away from the balcony, so crosses from the screen to the set with her apartment where she opens the door to reveal the real-time Clark Kent.

A scene in which Jor-El explains to Superman why he must keep his secret identity was added for the Director's Cut.

There are 18 camera operators credited on this film, not counting any of the special effects (matte photography, process photography, model units, etc.) or aerial units.

A man riding a motorcycle dragging a bag of dirt was used to make the effect of Clark running down the dirt road after jumping in front of the train.

To achieve the shot of young Clark Kent kicking a football into orbit, an air cannon was placed underground and the football fired from it.

The movie was filming in New York City on the night of the notorious 1977 blackout. The New York "Daily News" was able to publish despite the blackout, as the film company let the newspaper use their generators.

The producers wanted Joan Crawford for the role of Ma Kent. Unfortunately, Crawford was too ill to take the part and died shortly before production began.

The Bill Haley song "Rock Around the Clock" is heard on a car radio just before Glenn Ford's final scene. Ford starred in Blackboard Jungle, the film that helped launch the Rock and Roll era by popularizing "Rock Around the Clock".

According to the DVD commentary by Richard Donner, Goldie Hawn was the first choice for the role of Eve Teschmacher. When Hawn wanted too much money, Donner approached Ann-Margret, who also asked too much.

Marlon Brando refused to memorize most of his lines in advance. In the scene where he puts infant Kal-El into the escape pod, he was actually reading his lines from the diaper of the baby.

Marlon Brando reputedly suggested that his cameo role as Jor-El be done by him in voice over only, with the character's image onscreen being a glowing, levitating green bagel. Unsure if Brando was joking or not, the film's producers formally rejected the suggestion.

Dedicated "with love and respect" to the memory of director of photography Geoffrey Unsworth, who had died before the Superman premiere.

The original concept for the flying sequence with Superman and Lois was for them to fly around the world, but it was decided to keep the couple in the city.

Initially, Gene Hackman refused to cut off his mustache to play Lex Luthor. In early one-sheets of the movie his face is featured with a mustache. Before Richard Donner and Hackman met face-to-face, Donner proposed to Hackman that if he would cut his mustache, Donner would cut his too, and Hackman agreed. It turned out later that Donner did not have a mustache at all. He wore a false moustache that he peeled off at the last moment.

To obtain the 'glowing' effect of the clothing on Krypton, the wardrobe department spent weeks sewing tiny glass balls on to each actor's apparel. If the "material" was accidentally touched, the oils on the actor's hands would interfere with the lighting effect, leaving a dull patch on the costume.

Composer John Williams used the same orchestra that he also used for his themes for all six Star Wars movies (he used the London Symphony Orchestra), hence how some of his film scores sound like Star Wars.

Both William Friedkin and Sam Peckinpah were offered the chance to direct. Friedkin turned down the offer outright. Peckinpah dropped out of the running when he produced a gun during a meeting with Ilya Salkind.

Jack Nicholson and Gene Wilder were both considered for the role of Lex Luthor. Nicholson, who went on to play the Joker in Batman, was considered to play Luthor in a Superman film project in the 1990s that was ultimately shelved.

Richard Donner had a single word, printed in big letters, on numerous signs, sent to every creative department involved with this film: VERISIMILITUDE. "It's a word that refers to being real . . . not realistic - yes, there IS a difference - but real," explained Donner. "It was a constant reminder to ourselves that, if we gave into the temptation we knew there would be to parody Superman, we would only be fooling ourselves."

Marlon Brando was paid $3.7 million and a percentage of the profits for playing Jor-El for 12 shooting days. The fee (plus the percentage) also covered the sequel, which was being simultaneously shot with the original. Brando did not appear in the sequel, however, as he was involved in a lawsuit with Ilya Salkind over what Brando said was the producer's non-payment of his profit-participation for this film. He ultimately received about $14 million for his ten minutes on film. The footage shot for the sequel is used in Superman Returns.

The villains at the marina were all stunt performers from Kojak.

Caroline Munro was offered the role of Ursa but was unavailable.

Director Richard Donner has a cameo in the movie as the skeptical man who talks to Clark Kent in front of the televisions, right after the first appearance of Superman.

Gene Hackman was initially reluctant to take the part of Lex Luthor, as he felt it may damage his reputation as a serious actor.

When they meet at Lois Lane's penthouse, Lois asks Superman how fast he can fly. He responds that he never timed himself. At the end of the film when he orbits the earth to set back time, at peak speed he appears to orbit the earth 44 times in approximately 10.5 seconds at a diameter of approximately 1.75 times the earth's diameter. This means at peak speed he traveled approximately 183,000 miles per second. The speed of light is 186,000 per second. So essentially Superman was traveling at the speed of light, which is possibly the director's intention, and is extraordinarily "faster than a speeding bullet"!

Richard Donner had effectively shot 75% of Superman II when he was fired by the Salkinds.

Over 200 unknown actors auditioned for the part, including Christopher Walken and Nick Nolte.

Jeff East tore several thigh muscles when performing the stunt of racing alongside the train.

Marlon Brando sued the Salkinds and Warner Brothers for $50 million because he felt cheated out of the film's considerable box office profits. This is the main reason why footage of Brando does not appear in Superman II.

Jeff East who plays Superman as a teenager also auditioned to play him as an adult.

William Goldman was approached to write the screenplay as was Leigh Brackett. Ilya Salkind hired Alfred Bester but Alexander Salkind didn't think he was famous enough so he hired Mario Puzo instead on a $600,000 salary.

Paul Newman was offered the choice of playing Superman, Lex Luthor or Jor-El for the fee of $4 million. Newman wasn't interested in any of them.

Mario Puzo's scripts proved to be too epic and too expensive so the team of David Newman and Robert Benton was brought in to hone them down. Benton was committed to directing The Late Show so Leslie Newman - David's wife - came on board, mainly to write Lois Lane's dialog. Their rewrite was more campy than Puzo's and even included a cameo appearance by Kojak, the popular TV detective.

James Brolin, Lyle Waggoner and Perry King all auditioned for the part of the Man of Steel.

Richard Donner was originally planning to direct Damien: Omen II when he was hired to direct this film for $1,000,000. Donner began by throwing out the script and hiring Tom Mankiewicz to write him a new one.

Richard Lester agreed to come on board as he was still owed money from the Salkinds for working on The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge.

The original Superman costume was going to be a much darker blue but this became transparent with the blue screen for the special effects.

At the time of its release, Superman was the 6th highest grossing film of all time.

Donner was disgusted that production designer John Barry and cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth received no recognition from the Academy for their work on the film. He was particularly aggrieved that one of the nominees for Best Art Direction was "California Suite" which merely duplicated an existing hotel, whilst Barry created an entire fictional city and a fortress in the Arctic.

Richard Donner spent virtually a year working on the 2001 DVD release, reinstating some footage and preparing several making-of documentaries.

Marlon Brando's salary made him the highest paid movie star in the world at the time.

In its initial run, the film topped the box office charts for 13 consecutive weeks.

The biggest budgeted film from Warner Brothers at the time of its release.

It was planned at one point that the film would end with a giant hologram of Superman flying out into theaters.

Along with Marlon Brando, Mario Puzo also sued the Salkinds for non-payment of fees.

Yugoslav front projection specialist Zoran Perisic invented a new special effects system called the Zoptic Process that allowed matte work of a flying Christopher Reeve to be placed in relation to background processes which would then focus in and out.

Larry Hagman was only supposed to be filming for 3 days but because of the terribly unpredictable weather the crew experienced in Calgary, he was there for nearly a month.

"Faster than a speeding bullet!" (when Clark catches the projectile fired towards Lois' back). "More powerful than a locomotive!" (when young Clark outruns the Smallville train, AND years later, (as Superman) repairs the railroad; supporting the weight.) Finally, if referencing the alternate tagline from Max Fleischer's Superman, "Able to soar higher than any plane!" (when Superman takes the missile, bound for New Jersey, into space.)

His romance with Lois leads him to contradict Jor-El's orders to avoid altering human history, time traveling to save her from dying. Superman instead takes the advice of Jonathan Kent, his father on Earth.

The film of the black-and-white sequence that opens the movie is shown in reverse. The sequence was filmed starting with a close-up of the Daily Planet panel followed by a zoom-out. Then the child's hand turns each page left-to-right, then closes the cover. (As the child turns each page and then closes the cover, notice that the corners fold in the opposite direction of how they should fold.)

WILHELM SCREAM: Heard when Detective Harry falls to his death at the Metropolis Subway.

According with Jor-El (when this one talks to his son in the Fortress of Solitude), Superman is 18 years old at time of their meeting in the fortress, passing 12 years together studying life and cosmos. When Superman appears in Metropolis he is 30 years old. Christopher Reeve was 26 years old at time of the movie.

In 1977, former actor Don Voyne was the dentist to executive producer Ilya Salkind and was given an audition for the lead role.

According to Jeff East, during the shot in which young Clark jumps in front of the train, he was nearly hit by the train. But Richard Hackman grabbed him just in time and he avoided being injured.

Kirk Alyn:  Lois Lane's father. Alyn played Superman in Superman. He appears when a child (Lois Lane) see Clark Kent running extremely fast from a train window.