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) the work himself, and was suspended as high as 50 feet in the air. Counterweights and pulleys were typically used to achieve flying movement, rather than electronic or motorized devices. The thin wires used to suspend Reeve were typically removed from the film in post-production using rotoscope techniques, although this wasn't necessary in all shots (in certain lighting conditions or when Superman is very distant in the frame, the wires were more or less imperceptible). For stationary shots where Superman is seen flying toward or away from the camera, blue screen matte techniques were used. Reeve would be photographed suspended