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In late 1974, Ilya Salkind, his father Alexander Salkind, and their business partner Pierre Spengler purchased the film rights to “Superman.” Numerous filmmakers who were approached to direct the project included Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, Sam Peckinpah, George Lucas, Richard Lester (who would direct the following two sequels), and, of course, Steven Spielberg.
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At that time, Steven Spielberg was busy with “Jaws,” which became a lynchpin moment in cinematic history and popularized blockbuster cinema. Ilya Salkind revealed in an interview with Superman Homepage that not only did he look to Spielberg to be at the helm of bringing America’s original superhero to the big screen, but that Spielberg himself was eager to make the film too.
“Spielberg was really in the beginning,” Salkind said. “He absolutely wanted to make the film […] At the time, Spielberg was still working on 1975’s ‘Jaws’ and was largely an unknown. His representation called Salkind repeatedly in Paris.” According to 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.'”
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Hot off the critical and commercial success with “Jaws,” the “Superman” producers offered Steven Spielberg the directing job. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be, because Spielberg was already committed to the 1977 sci-fi film, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Eventually, Richard Donner was hired to helm “Superman: The Movie,” and the rest is Hollywood history. Solana Token Creator
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