Tim Burton Opens Up About His SUPERMAN LIVES Film Project Saying It Will Affect Him The Rest of His Life
Thanks to The Flash, DC fans got to see Nicholas Cage’s version of the Man of Steel, from Tim Burton’s canceled Superman Lives film project, in action. It was a pretty cool moment in the film because we never thought we’d ever get to see that version of Superman on the big screen.
During a recent interview with BFI, Burton opened up about Superman Lives, which he was developing in 1997. But, due to script and budgetary issues, the project ended up being scrapped in the middle of development. Burton explains he looks back at that time and how an experience like that will affect him for the rest of his life:
“No, I don’t have regrets. I will say this: when you work that long on a project and it doesn’t happen, it affects you for the rest of your life. Because you get passionate about things, and each thing is an unknown journey, and it wasn’t there yet. But it’s one of those experiences that never leaves you, a little bit.”
Burton was also asked about Nicholas Cage’s cameo in The Flash, and he talked about the disturbing use of AI in Hollywood:
“But also it goes into another AI thing, and this is why I think I’m over it with the studio. They can take what you did, Batman or whatever, and culturally misappropriate it, or whatever you want to call it. Even though you’re a slave of Disney or Warner Brothers, they can do whatever they want. So in my latter years of life, I’m in quiet revolt against all this.”
Cage previously talked about how he felt while watching his Superman scene play out in The Flash saying:
"Well, I was glad I didn't blink. For me, it was the feeling of being actualized. Even that look for that particular character, finally seeing it on screen, was satisfying. But as I said, it's quick.”
He went on to share where you can see what his Clark Kent / Superman performance would have been like in Superman Lives. All you have to do is watch his 1998 film City of Angels. He said:
“If you really wanted to know what I was going do with that character, look at my performance in City of Angels."
Superman Lives started development in 1996. Kevin Smith was hired to write the initial script for the film, but producer Jon Peters has his own silly ideas for what he wanted in the movie.
Peters thought that Superman shouldn’t fly in the film, and he wanted the hero to fight a giant spider in the film, which we saw in The Flash. He also wanted to include a scene where the villain, Brainiac, fought a polar bear. Superman Lives would’ve been a wild movie!