Christopher Reeve later made even higher gains for "Superman III" (1983), though for "" (1987), he decided it would be healthier to focus more on cardiovascular workouts. One of the reasons Reeve could not work out as much for "" was an emergency appendectomy he had in June 1986. Reeve was never a Superman or comic book fan, though he had watched "Adventures of Superman" starring George Reeves. Reeve found the role offered a suitable challenge because it was a dual role. He said, "there must be some difference stylistically between Clark and Superman. Otherwise, you just have a pair of glasses
Superman in film with Superman flying off to Krypton in a spaceship. Brett Ratner was hired to direct in September 2002, originally expressing an interest in casting an unknown for the lead role, while filming was to start sometime in late 2003. Christopher Reeve joined as project consultant, citing Tom Welling, who portrayed the teenage Clark Kent in "Smallville", as an ideal candidate. Reeve added "the character is more important than the actor who plays him, because it is an enduring mythology. It definitely should be an unknown." Ratner approached Josh Hartnett, Jude Law, Paul Walker and Brendan Fraser for Superman, but conceded