The final trailer for the documentary "The Death of 'Superman Lives': What Happened?" has hit the Web and it gives the audience a first-hand look at what a mid-90s "Superman" movie would be if it had been directed by Tim Burton and starred Nicolas Cage in the title role.
The documentary is directed by Jon Schnepp ("Metalocalypse") and looks into the behind-the-scenes process of the rise and fall of the unfinished film. Included are interviews with screenwriters Kevin Smith ("Clerks") and Dan Gilroy ("Nightcrawler"), costume designer Colleen Atwood, and the film's director Tim Burton. Producers Jon Peters and Lorenzo diBonaventura are also interviewed.
"Tim is really — I gotta be honest — one of the only people who could really do it justice, because he understands it. He's lived it," said Gilroy.
Fans would remember that it was Burton who started the modern comic book movie trend with his 1989 "Batman" that starred Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker.
"Superman Lives" was meant to be a film adaptation of the popular "Death of Superman" comic book series in the 1990s. All three drafts of the screenplay depict Braniac and Lex Luthor working together to blot out the sun and use an alien monster known as Doomsday to kill Superman.
Scenes from the trailer also reveal that "Superman Lives" already went into pre-production and even shows a clip of Cage trying on several costumes. The project was eventually scrapped before it could enter principal photography and no "Superman" film would be green lit until the 2006 "Superman Returns" starring Brandon Routh.
"The Death of 'Superman Lives': What Happened?" was launched in 2013 via KIckstarter. It will now see a limited theatrical release on May 1 and will later expand to more theaters around the country on July 9.
