Superman in film the script, giving it a serious feel with Christ-like overtones. Christopher Reeve was cast as Superman, having initially failed to impress the Salkinds before bulking up. Brando meanwhile, despite spending less than two weeks on the shoot, and not even reading the script until then, earned $3.7 million up front, plus 11.75% of the gross profits from the film. The film was a success both critically and commercially, being released during the Christmas season of 1978; it did not have much competition, leading the producers to believe that this was one factor in the film's success. Shooting of the two
Christopher Reeve thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia. He used a wheelchair and required a portable ventilator to breathe for the rest of his life. He would go on to lobby on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries and for human embryonic stem cell research, founding the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founding the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. Christopher D'Olier Reeve was born in New York City on September 25, 1952, the son of Barbara Pitney Lamb (1929–2000), a journalist, and Franklin D'Olier Reeve (1928–2013), a teacher, novelist, poet, and scholar. Reeve was of almost entirely English descent,