Christopher Reeve’s children want the world to know what Superman was really like
On the 20th anniversary of the actor’s death, a documentary with home videos and interviews premiered at Sundance. ‘During the compilation process we discovered he was a much more incredible man than we remembered him,’ says his son Matthew
Christopher Reeve (1952-2004) did not have the kind of life that any other actor of his caliber might typically have in Hollywood. In fact, he experienced more shadows than lights. His memories and successes are collected in a new documentary that reviews the most notable moments in the life of the actor who played Superman, from his Broadway debut alongside Katharine Hepburn to the tragic accident that left Hollywood bereft of its most illustrious superhero. The film was presented on Sunday by William, Matthew and Alexandra Reeve, children of the actor, at the Sundance Festival, in Park City (Utah). The premiere coincides with the 20th anniversary of Reeve’s death. The project, titled Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, “has been a gift, we are very lucky,” said his son Matthew in an interview with the news agency Efe.
After years of hoarding home videos, the actor’s three children decided it was time to share them with the rest of the world, in a project headed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui. “During the compilation process we discovered that he was a much more incredible man than we remembered him,” says his son. “Not only do we have his movies to watch, but also a collection of home movies and archived interviews on YouTube to dig up and review. Seeing things I had never seen changed my perception of him. In fact, it improved it. It was great to see that and discover a lot more material than we knew existed.” Mixing elements from his personal archive with television interviews, scenes from his films and interviews with celebrities and people who were close to the actor, the documentary captures all sides of a man “who found the true meaning of life in the hardest moments.” “We draw back the curtain of intimacy, we show how fame turned him into a person, you know, a little distant from his family, and the transformation he experienced after his accident,” says director Bonhôte.
His children, who currently head the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, dedicated to helping people with spinal cord injuries, hope that thanks to this documentary people can approach their father’s story from another angle. “People remember him as an actor, or after his accident, but maybe they don’t know the full complexity of his life, the range of his passions, and that there were hard days, but also really beautiful and joyful days along the way,” said Matthew. The film also features statements from colleagues such as Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg and Susan Sarandon, who were close to the actor before and after his horse riding accident, and also addresses Reeve’s close relationship with the late Robin Williams.
The Oscar winner accompanied Reeve for practically his entire life. They both met at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. Both studied thanks to a scholarship and were roommates during their university years. Their friendship lasted until Reeve’s death, a decade before Williams’ own death by suicide. After Reeve’s fateful fall, Williams showed his appreciation for his friend by hosting a party each year on the anniversary of the accident. Multiple images captured a heartbroken Williams at the funeral of his close friend: “I always thought that if Chris were present, Robin would still be alive,” actress Glenn Close told the British newspaper The Guardian, referring to Williams’ death in 2014.
The documentary focuses mainly on his altruistic work, showing his path to success since he debuted on Broadway, the ups and downs of his career and his rebirth after the tragic riding accident he suffered in 1995 that left him a quadriplegic. “His story has a great dose of tragedy and joy, he is the only, the original and the best Superman in history, but his true heroism was off the screen,” says Ettedgui, the second of the directors, who have defined the documentary as a “retrospective biopic.” “For dad, Superman had to be art,” said his daughter at the presentation. The pitfalls and pressure of playing the superhero also affected him: “I’m not a hero, I never have been, I never will be.” His son Matthew also talked to People Magazine about the reappearance of the actor just one year after his terrible accident, in 1996, during the Oscar gala. In it, a wheelchair-bound Reeve received an ovation from his colleagues that has gone down in Hollywood history.
From a young age, Christopher Reeve demonstrated his passion for acting. However, he did not have beginner’s luck in his debut alongside Katharine Hepburn in A Matter of Gravity. After the curtain rose, when it was time to go out on stage, he stood in front of the actress, blurted out the first of his lines and fell unconscious to the floor. To the stupor of everyone present, the actress turned to the audience and blurted out: “This boy’s a goddamn fool. He doesn’t eat enough red meat.” Reeve was then removed from the stage and replaced with the understudy. Days later, once he had recovered, he rejoined the play at the request of Katharine herself, since she saw great potential in him and a promising future in acting. Two decades later, in an interview that James Lipton conducted with Christopher Reeve on the American television program Inside the Actors Studio, he asked him about this anecdote and how it had been debuting with a star like her: “People say I acted with Katharine Hepburn, but in reality what I did was act close to Katharine Hepburn.”
At the end of the documentary, a quote from Reeve recalls what he used to think when someone asked him what a hero was, and his answer changed before and after the accident: “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure despite overwhelming obstacles.”
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