It has been 20 years since the world lost Christopher Reeve. But while many remember him as Superman, others as an incredible disability advocate, a new documentary is set to reveal his greatest legacy – that of a dedicated husband, father and friend.
For the very first time, filmmakers Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui were granted unprecedented access to the Reeve family. They also received a wealth of archival videos, many seen for the first time in the documentary. In addition, they sat down with some of his closest friends, his doctors as well as people whose lives he transformed – even if they’d never met – over his 52 years.
Here is everything you need to know about Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.
Where can I watch Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story?
The film has been timed to mark the 20th anniversary of Christopher’s passing on October 10, 2004. It will be in cinemas nationwide.
Who is in Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story?
Christopher’s three children Matthew, Alexandra and Will give extensive interviews in the documentary. They also share never before seen home movies.
“We did the interviews completely separated from each other, not in the same location, not on the same days, some of them months apart,” says Ian of the process. “And so they never heard what the other said. And what we realized is that all of them had different relationship to their father, because some were older.
“(Matthew and Alexandra) came from the first relationship with Gae Exton. Will was only three years old when he started the accident. And when his dad passed, he was 13 while Matthew was 25, 26. So that allowed them to take different roles within the film.”
For the first time Gae sits down for an interview about her time with Christopher as well as the years after their split.
Susan Sarandon, Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg and Jeff Daniels all share their memories of both working with Christopher as well as personal anecdotes.
Christopher’s medical team are also interviewed for the documentary as was disability advocate Brooke Ellison, whose story Christopher made into a film before his passing.
“I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to fight and endure, despite overwhelming obstacles.”
Christopher Reeve
Who was Christopher Reeve?
Born September 25, 1952, in New York, Christopher was the first – and only – child of journalist Barbara Pitney Lam band poet and scholar Franklin D’Olier Reeve.
After attending Julliard alongside Robin Williams – who became his life-long best friend, he began working on Broadway. But he shot to fame after being cast – as an unknown actor – in the lead role in 1978 film Superman.
The film was a hit which spawned three sequels and other work for Christopher outside of playing the Man of Steel. But when a tragic equestrian accident saw him suffer a spinal injury which left him paralysed from the neck down in 1995 it led to his second career – that of disability advocate, launching The Christopher Reeve Foundation (later The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation) to raise much needed funds for spinal cord research.
“Looking at the archive, we were very impressed with how good he was with so many things,” Ian tells The Weekly. “Flying a plane, being an amazing sailor, he played tennis extremely well. He skied, he competed in horse riding. He was an accomplished musician. He was what you call a renaissance man.
“When, you think of what kind of actor could act Superman, he would need laws of human superpowers. And that was the dedication and the passion he put in everything he set his mind to. Within the first few months after the accident, he had read everything about his condition. He had read everything about spinal cord injuries.
“He would read the room. He knew how to make people feel comfortable if they were facing someone for the first time who was quadriplegic. To be able to build on the conversation and move things forward was pretty impressive.”
Who is Gae Exton?
Christopher began dating British model agent Gae Exton while filming Superman. While the pair never married, they were in a 10-year relationship and shared two children: Matthew and Alexander.
Five months after their split, Christopher would meet Dana Morosini. The pair married in April 1992 with son Will arriving three months later.
“Matthew and Alexandra said, our mum will not do an interview,” Peter recalls, adding she’d never done them while Gae and Christopher were together. But after he and Ian met with Gae and shared their vision, she eventually agreed.
“We said, we think you’re an essential person in this story. Just as for the children, it’s time for them to tell their story. We feel that if you’re ever going to do it, now is the, really is the right time because this is probably going to be the only film that’s ever made about Christopher Reeve.”
“Chris was crazy in love with her,” adds Ian. “Something didn’t work out, but he was crazy in love with her. And she’s still in love with him.”
Dana had helped the pair restore a fractured relationship and reestablish his relationship with their children – especially after Christopher’s accident. And it’s clear in the film that Gae was pleased at the outcome.
“The way that she talks about Christopher’s life with Dana and his advocacy after the accident… is very powerful,” says Peter.
Why was Robin Williams a key part of Christopher Reeve’s recovery?
Since meeting, the seeming odd couple had been best friends. In the days after Christopher’s accident, Robin went in disguise to the hospital playing a Russian proctologist as a prank.
“My old friend had let me know that somehow I was going to be okay,” Christopher would later say. “I can still laugh.”
Alongside his wife Marcia, Robin would organise a big dinner party for the family on each anniversary of the fateful equestrian accident. When Christopher passed away, he gave a moving – whilst typically funny – eulogy at the funera. When Dana was ill, he stepped up to help make sure teenage Will was cared for.
“I’ve always felt that if Chris was still around, Robin would still be alive,” Glenn Close reveals in Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. “I believe that.”
What happened at the 1996 Oscars?
Christopher decided to give his first public appearance at the 68th Academy Awards – where the entire audience rose to their feet with tears and applause.
“The fact that Superman was in a wheelchair and was happy to go public with it was huge,” Glenn Close says in the documentary.
Making disability part of the conversation would change Christopher’s life once again. The Oscars would not only be the official start of his advocacy work, it gave him the confidence to get back to work in film – both as an actor and director. “Nothing scares me anymore,” he would say after the event.
Amongst other appearances, he starred in films A Step Towards Tomorrow (1996) and Rear Window (1998) and directed TV movie In The Gloaming (1997) starring Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg and Bridget Fonda.
What happened to Dana Reeve?
Dana, Christopher would say in archival footage seen in the documentary, was his reason for living after the accident. Despite feeling like giving up in those early days, “she said the words that saved my life. ‘You are still you, and I love you.’”
She was by his side during his advocacy work and – after his passing – would continue the Christopher Reeve Foundation. But less than a year after her husband’s death, she developed a niggling cough and sore back – it was, she would learn, stage 4 lung cancer. She would lose the battle on March 6, 2006.
“I know that I’ve had a lot of things happen to me that are hard to conceive of and hard to think about and hard to discuss,” Will tells The Weekly of losing both his parents so young.
“But they shaped me, they’re part of who I am, and I was raised by two human beings who instilled their values in me and raised me in a way that prepared me for life’s challenges. So to speak about them so openly and honestly was a gift because I got the chance to talk about my parents, which always makes me happy and proud.”
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