Why Richard Donner Did not Edit Superman II’s ‘Richard Donner Lower’ Himself

“Superman II” may simply be the very best Superman film ever made, however that did not cease followers from clamoring for Richard Donner’s authentic reduce. Michael Thau had labored as Donner’s assistant earlier than turning into an editor and director, and in a 2006 IGN interview, Donner defined how Thau advised him there had been “so many requests to Warner Bros.” for his authentic reduce of “Superman II” that the studio had signed off on the undertaking. Donner gave the “good little editor” his blessing to supervise recutting the footage, and work on “The Richard Donner Lower” started.

The method kicked off when six tons of movie had been shipped from London, the place they’d been saved within the Technicolor vaults, to California the place Thau was set to work on the recut. In a making-of featurette, Donner defined how Thau got here to supervise the undertaking:

“In the future Michael Thau known as me and stated, ‘Hear, there actually is a web motion afoot that they need to see your reduce.’ I stated, ‘I would not know the place to start out,’ and he stated, ‘Nicely, I would like to do it.’ I stated, ‘Hey, of all of the individuals you are the fitting man, go do it.'”

As soon as the newly-unearthed footage had gone by way of an in depth cataloging course of, Thau began reducing scenes collectively, working from roughly 70% of what Donner had shot for “Superman II” earlier than Richard Lester took over — the remainder of this authentic footage had been misplaced within the many years since. Throughout that technique of enhancing, Donner, who’d by no means really seen “Superman” in full earlier than it premiered and had just about remained faraway from the saga after he was changed, most popular to keep up his distance considerably.