Richard Donner Dies Director Was 91

[Robotman]

This scene is still absolutely perfect. Hearing John Williams theme build up still gives me goosebumps.

Thank you Mr. Donner.

[Yoda]

R.I.P. Mr. Donner.

This little anecdote is amazing and the man just got Superman.

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[Johnny Thunders!]

The Goonies, The Omen, Lethal Weapon, and Superman. That’s something for everyone and they are still trying to find a formula for Superman on film to replace the impact of his work.

[I'm a Fish]

R.I.P. Mr. Donner.

[I'm a Fish]

[BBally]

We lost a legend today, a director who was influential in many genres. The Buddy Cop (Lethal Weapon), Family Adventure (The Goonies), Horror (The Omen) but his biggest influence in my eyes was to the Comic Book Movie with 1978's Superman The Movie.

With Superman, it was Donner who insisted the subject of the comic book superhero should be treated "straight," giving respect to the genre's particular conventions and tone, rather than the "camp" tone that was planned for the film.

The result is a timeless cinematic classic.

This approach that strongly influenced later genre filmmakers such as Tim Burton (Batman), Bryan Singer (X-Men, that Donner was involved as executive producer), Sam Raimi (Spider-Man trilogy) Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy), Kevin Feige (MCU) and Zack Snyder (DCEU), who have made successful superhero films of their own.

Kevin Feige has especially credited the original 78 Superman film as the blueprint the Marvel Cinematic Universe is inspired by.

"Superman: The Movie is still to this day the archetype of the perfect superhero film origin story and we watch it before we make almost any one of our films, and that’s been the case for the past seventeen years since I left the fold to go work for Marvel"

"I always hesitate to come off as the person who is bestowing advice on people. It's not really what I do. What I do know is, they're great characters... They're great characters, they're good comics, they've got great history. I'm not shy about saying, Richard Donner’s Superman I still think is the paradigm by which we all still should follow. It's all there."

Christopher Nolan has also credited the 1978 film for being a influence on his Dark Knight Batman trilogy.

"I want to do for Batman what Dick Donner did for Superman"

"It came to me in a very interesting way, which was my agent, Dan Aloni, called and said, 'It seems unlikely you’d be interested in this, but Warners is sort of casting around for what they would do with Batman.' It had reached the end of its last sort of life, if you’d like. And at the time, nobody used the term reboot — that didn’t exist — so it was really a question of, 'What would you do with this?' I said, 'Well, actually, that is something I’m interested in,' because one of the great films that I am very influenced by that we haven’t talked about was Dick Donner’s Superman — 1978, that came out. It made a huge impression on me. I can remember the trailers for it, I can remember about Superman the movie, all of that. And it was very clear to me that however brilliant – and it was very brilliant – Tim Burton’s take on Batman was in 1989, and it was obviously a worldwide smash, it wasn’t that sort of origin story, it wasn’t that real-world kind of epic movie; it was very Tim Burton, a very idiosyncratic, gothic kind of masterpiece. But it left this interesting gap in pop-culture, which is you know, you had Superman in 1978, but they never did the sort of 1978 Batman, where you see the origin story, where the world is pretty much the world we live in but there’s this extraordinary figure there, which is what worked so well in Dick Donner’s Superman film."

R.I.P Richard Donner.

Thank you for being a part of many people's childhoods and making a generation of audience Believe A Man Can Fly.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgwbFNWIL3WrqbvIvet4AaABCQ

[captchuck]

Oh no. I hadn't heard this! I loved his Superman movies!

[Vordan]

R.I.P. Mr. Donner.

This little anecdote is amazing and the man just got Superman.

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Lmao I saw that and laughed. RIP.

[Gaius]

The Omen is a personal favorite of mine of 70s Horror.

R.I.P. Donner.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

R.I.P. Mr. Donner.

This little anecdote is amazing and the man just got Superman.

CEB3CD46-A3AC-4707-9A4D-174B9800EABC.jpg

There's so much about this story to love. The understanding that Superman is a love story at its core, and the good sense to smoke a joint, dress up like Superman and run across your lawn. I didn't think I could love Dick Donner anymore, but this did it.

I would expect that the next Marvel Studios movie will have some kind of tribute to him, given how much credit Kevin Feige has said the MCU owes to Donner's Superman.

[oneveryfineday]

What a legend. He will be missed greatly.

RIP Mr. Donner.

[Amadeus Arkham]

RIP. Loved Superman 1 & 2 and Lethal Weapon. He will forever go down in the annals of history as one of the great filmmakers and the Godfather of the modern superhero movie. I hope you’re reunited with Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve wherever you are. RIP to the man who really did make many believe a man can fly. Life well lived, purpose well served. Rest well.

[Powerboy]

He did the first serious, grownup take on a superhero in a theatrical movie. He made the best Superman movie ever done. He made us believe a man can fly. Rest in peace.

[manwhohaseverything]

RIP..and the crystal fortress one of the coolest ideas ever

[Sacred Knight]

Thanks for all the memories sir, Superman and beyond.