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) cut. Networks and stations could then re-edit their own version at their discretion. This edit is commonly known as the "Salkind International Television Cut". ABC aired the broadcast television debut of "Superman" over two nights in February 1982, with a majority of the unused footage. The 182-minute network cut (which was slightly cut down for content) was repeated in November of that same year, this time in its entirety in one evening. The remaining two ABC broadcasts were presented in its original theatrical version. When the TV rights reverted to Warner Bros. in 1985, CBS aired the film one last