Superman Kurt Russell

Digital art I made of Kurt Russell as Superman in the 1970s/1980s. Steven Spielberg wanted to direct Superman in the 1970s, and his agent kept calling producer Alexander Salkind. "Spielberg was really in the beginning," Ilya Salkind said. "He absolutely wanted to make the film." At the time, Steven Spielberg was still working on 1975's Jaws and was largely an unknown. His representation called producer Alexander Salkind repeatedly. According to Ilya Salkind, they told him "'We have this kid who wants to direct Superman, he loves Superman, that's his kind of stuff and he wants to do it.' Of course I immediately checked what he had done and went to see his films and immediately said 'Okay, this kid's got it - this guy's got talent.' And I went to my father and I said 'Look this is the guy'." Alexander Salkind wasn't convinced. He was concerned because he'd heard Steven Spielberg was over-budget on Jaws. The younger Ilya Salkind was convinced Jaws would be a hit regardless. Steven Spielberg also had producer Pierre Spengler's support. But Ilya Salkind recalled that his father Alexander Salkind concluded, "'let's wait until the big fish (Jaws) opens.'"

 Jaws opened in the summer of 1975 and was a huge hit. "I said 'Look, he's never going to do it now that Jaws is so huge,'" Ilya Salkind said. Alexander Salkind finally contacted Steven Spielberg's agent back but their immediate window of opportunity had closed, because the success of Jaws allowed Steven Spielberg to begin making his long-cherished science fiction film project Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) on a big budget, which Steven Spielberg had been wanting to make for years and had scripted himself. www.supermanhomepage.com/movie…

If producer Alexander Salkind hadn't delayed calling Steven Spielberg and had given Steven Spielberg the Superman directing job when he was asking for it, Kurt Russell could have been approached by director Steven Spielberg to take the Superman role in theatrical Superman films in the 1970s and 1980s.

Kurt Russell was 25 in 1976 when his 10 year Disney contract ended. Kurt Russell had the classic squarer-jawed Superman look, Kurt Russell resembled George Reeves, and as Chuck Harter said on the commentary for the "Crime Wave" episode, "George Reeves looks especially good in this shot. Reminds me a bit of a young Elvis Presley, who in fact at times he resembles greatly." Kurt Russell also resembled Elvis Presley and Kurt Russell did play Elvis in Elvis (1979), directed by John Carpenter, and Kurt Russell could have and I believe would have played Superman in the '70s and '80s in films. John Carpenter also could have directed Kurt Russell as Superman eventually after Steve Spielberg's initial Superman film or films. John Carpenter directed Starman (1984) about an alien that that comes to earth in the country, grows, looks like a Earthing and has superpowers, saves the life of a deer, etc. Very Superman-esque. Kurt Russell pulled off the Elvis role in 1979, and I believe he would have pulled off the Superman role. Kurt Russell was an underrated actor, as George Reeves also was.

Kurt Russell had the very clean-cut guy image from his Disney years and also had a rugged, aggressiveness of classic Superman, along with a natural likability and charm. Kurt Russell would have captured both Superman's rugged and distinguished sides, yet gentlemanly, and polite, and Clark Kent's coy, believably mild-mannered persona, and believably from Smallville Kansas with a mid-western charm, and a sly sense of humor rather than as naive, or acting bumbling and inept (Christopher Reeve's Kent). Christopher Reeve's Superman was too cartoonish, too powerful, campy, seemed more interested in romancing Lois Lane than fighting crime, and willing to give up his life as Superman to be with Lois Lane. Jason Kemp in Rear Window was Christopher Reeve’s best performance in my opinion. The Christopher Reeve films, more than anything else, gave Superman the image problem as campy, too powerful, too perfect, and Clark Kent as silly bumbling slapstick, and Luthor as a silly wig wearing goofy guy with a campy sidekick named Otis, etc.

Rather than campyness like the Richard Donner/Richard Lester/Christopher Reeve Superman films, the Kurt Russell/Steven Spielberg Superman films would have likely been more like what Steven Spielberg ended up doing in the action packed Indiana Jones film series mixed with the sci-fi of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the heartwarming E.T.