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
Christopher Reeve went to New Mexico to shoot "Speechless", co-starring Michael Keaton who, like Reeve, also portrayed a famous DC Comics superhero on film: Batman. Reeve then went to Point Reyes to shoot John Carpenter's film "Village of the Damned", a remake of a 1960 British movie of the same name. Both of these films with this title were based on the 1957 novel "The Midwich Cuckoos" by John Wyndham. Shortly before his accident, Reeve played a paralyzed police officer in the HBO movie "Above Suspicion". He did research at a rehabilitation hospital in Van Nuys and learned how to use a