Trivia / Superman II

• Banned in China: The film was banned in Sweden because it contained too much violence.
• Billing Displacement: Christopher Reeve is billed second to Gene Hackman.
• California Doubling: Continuing the trend from the last film, it was shot in Southern Alberta, in Calgary and High River.
• Creator Backlash: In an interview for a Superman documentary to accompany Superman Returns, Margot Kidder said she agreed with those who felt the love scene between Clark and Lois didn't suit the film.
• Creative Differences:
  • Tensions arose between Richard Donner and the Salkinds even as far back as the release of the first movie, which led to his departure in the middle of principal photography.
  • John Williams didn't return for the sequels because he found he couldn't work with Richard Lester. (Hence Lester's Associated Composer Ken Thorne scored this one and the next movie as well. (Heavily based on Williams' material).
• Deleted Scene: Many put back for the Donner cut, while others were merely extras. A bunch of scenes were shot for both versions, some of which went un-used in both versions, some of which were restored in extended TV cuts:
  • In the ABC-TV version, Superman passes a Concorde jet on his way to Paris. This is not in the video release and was actually an outtake from the first film as a bridge between Superman saving Air Force One and his conversation with Jor-El after his first night.
  • At the end of the film, Clark Kent bumps into a large bald man, which reminds him to go to the diner to face the obnoxious trucker who beat him up earlier.
  • The Phantom Zone villains land outside the Fortress of Solitude with Lex Luthor and Lois Lane, trying to figure out how to get in.
  • Extended scenes of the three Kryptonians invasion of the White House, with Zod using a gun and Non frightening a dog.
  • Superman cooks soufflé using his heat vision, during dinner with Lois at the Fortress of Solitude.
  • Extended discussion between Zod and Ursa on the Moon.
  • The three Kryptonian villains are arrested in the TV version. In The Richard Donner Cut, Superman reversed the rotation of the Earth to keep the three Kryptonian criminals from being freed from the Phantom Zone.
  • A scene of a young woman watching a football game, only to see it be interrupted by a newsflash involving the three Kryptonian villains' attack on the small town, causing her to call the TV station and attempt to get them to put the football game back on;
  • A scene of a young Japanese girl viewing the villains' destruction of the small town on TV, followed by her father telling her that she shouldn't watch it due to excessive violence, causing her to reply, "Shut up!";
  • A longer version of the scene of Zod using a machine gun in the White House, where Zod kills a young black secret service agent, then fires at a portrait of Richard Nixon.
  • A longer version of the scene of Clark and Lois traveling by car in the snow before they go to the diner and meet the bully.
  • A young boy in the small town trying to ride a horse away for help. Zod says that no one is to leave. Non throws the red light he tore earlier from the police car at the boy killing him. One of the townsfolk says that he was just a boy, and Ursa replies that he will never become a man.
• Executive Meddling:
  • After almost finishing production on Superman II, director Richard Donner was fired by producer Alexander Salkind, who wanted a lower-budget movie with more Camp. The result on the franchise was disastrous — many of the stars, including Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman, refused to work with new director Richard Lester or participate in later sequels. It should be noted that however disastrous the result was for the franchise as a whole, the Lester version was still a critically acclaimed box office smash, and even Superman III enjoyed good box office (if not the critical acclaim) even if only because III piggy backed off the success of the first two films.
  • Donner had reportedly been at odds with the Salkinds from early on over the tone of the film and reportedly did not get along with Pierre Spengler, a long time friend and frequent collaborator of the Salkinds. Marlon Brando was said to have been cut out of the film altogether because he was too expensive, not just for his paycheck but because he got a big bite of the first film's box office and was entitled to a big bite of the second film's box office as well, which the Salkinds decided they didn't like. Jack O'Halloran, the actor who played Non, later accused the Salkinds of having done a poor job managing the budgets for both films.
• Hostility on the Set: Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran revealed that they didn't get on with Christopher Reeve. O'Halloran claimed that he and Reeve got into a boxing match and he knocked Reeve out. Fittingly, they play enemies in the film.
• Orphaned Reference: In the Richard Lester cut, when Clark sees General Zod taking over the White House, Lois tells Clark "You didn't know", only for Clark to reply "He knew". Clark is referring to Jor-El telling him about the Kryptonian villains, but those scenes were removed from the Lester cut.
• Referenced by...: Charles Xavier performs a memory-erasing kiss on his love interest in X-Men: First Class.
• Short Run in Peru: Was released in Australia, South Africa and much of Europe in December 1980, six months prior to its June 1981 summer release in the United States. It also got an Easter 1981 launch in the UK and West Germany.
• Spared by the Cut: A boy riding a horse in the first town Zod conquers is killed by Non when he tries to ride for help. His death scene is present in some TV cuts, but is absent from both the theatrical version and the Donner Cut.
• Troubled Production: The film featured a new director in Richard Lester after the Salkinds fired Donner; by the time Lester was brought on board, around three-quarters of the second film had been shot concurrently with the first film, but the time and budget overruns led to the Salkinds getting cold feet and shutting down production until they saw the box office returns for the first film. When production started anew, Lester didn't just have to film the remaining scenes, but he also had to re-shoot scenes originally directed by Donner due to DGA regulations. Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando both refused to work with Lester, forcing the producers to cobble together the film using some footage from Donner and some from Lester. Some of the scenes were filmed two years apart from each other, leading characters to look different from scene to scene, have completely different hairstyles, or even different hair color. Marlon Brando's scenes were cut out completely so that they wouldn't have to pay him.
• Uncredited Role: Christopher Malcolm as a laundry prison guard.
• What Could Have Been:
  • A bunch of scenes were shot for both versions, some of which went un-used in both versions, some of which were restored in extended TV cuts, such as a rather chilling scene (from the original theatrical Lester version!) of a young boy (the one who is supposed to be from the American mid-west yet talks with a British accent) being brutally killed by Non when he tries to ride away for help. This scene ends with an old woman exclaiming "He was only a boy!" to which Ursa cheerfully replies "Who will never become a man."
  • Though Lester was always considered to replace Donner, the Salkinds again considered Guy Hamilton to take over as Lester was too busy with Cuba. The moment Hamilton turned the job down, Lester had just wrapped up filming Cuba and was hired.
  • An early version of the script had four Kryptonian villains who were exiled from the planet before its destruction. Jak-El was supposed to be an evil prankster and source of comic relief. He is described as "a psychopathic jokester, whose pranks and practical jokes are only funny to him when they cause death and suffering to others." The character was never cast.
  • The producers wanted Henry Fonda to cameo as the United States President, but Fonda's other projects as well as his failing health led to E.G. Marshall getting the part. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was also considered for the role, and Gerald Ford, fresh off his own tenure as President, was another candidate.
  • The iconic "reversing time" scene from the first movie was intended originally for this film. The Richard Donner cut reinstated this ending, but is nowhere near as polished due to Donner not being able to properly complete the film. Donner has said he would've worked on a new ending for the cut if he was able to.

---