Superman (1978 film) finish writing duties. George MacDonald Fraser was later hired to do some work on the script, but he says he did little. Their script was submitted in July 1976, and carried a camp tone, including a cameo appearance by Telly Savalas as his "Kojak" character. The scripts for "Superman" and "Superman II" were now at over 400 pages combined. Pre-production started at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, with sets starting construction and flying tests being unsuccessfully experimented. "In Italy," producer Ilya Salkind remembered, "we lost about $2 million [on flying tests]." Marlon Brando found out he could not film in Italy
Superman in film Superman in film The fictional character Superman, an American comic book superhero in DC Comics publications, has appeared in movies almost since his inception. He debuted in cinemas in a series of animated shorts beginning in 1941, and then starred in two movie serials in 1948 and 1950. An independent studio, Lippert Pictures, released the first Superman feature film, "Superman and the Mole Men", starring George Reeves, in 1951. Ilya and Alexander Salkind and Pierre Spengler purchased the "Superman" film rights in 1974. After numerous scripts, Richard Donner was hired to direct the film, filming "Superman" (1978) and "Superman II"