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 (1978 film) because of a warrant out for his arrest: a sexual-obscenity charge from "Last Tango in Paris". Production moved to England in late 1976, but Hamilton could not join because he was a tax exile. Mark Robson was strongly considered and was in talks to direct, but after seeing "The Omen", the producers hired Richard Donner. Donner had previously been planning "" when he was hired in January 1977 for $1 million to direct "Superman" and "Superman II". Donner felt it was best to start from scratch. "They had prepared the picture for a year and not one bit was useful