Interview: Super/Man:The Christopher Reeve Story directors define a hero

To millions all over the world, there is only one Superman, and that’s Christopher Reeve. But, faced with what could have been overwhelming challenges, the actor became a real life hero, an inspirational figure and a life saver.

His extraordinary story is told in what is, surprisingly, the first documentary about the actor, Super/Man:The Christopher Reeve Story. Most people already know about his rise to fame as the man we believed could fly, the horse riding accident which severed his spinal chord and paralysed him from the neck down and his subsequent activism and campaigning on behalf of people with spinal injuries, but the film also takes us behind the scenes through interviews with his children, as well as film footage, letters and photographs from the family archive.

Directors Peter Ettedgui and Ian Bonhote worked with Reeve’s family and friends to create a film that showed him “with all his weaknesses and didn’t put him on a pedestal”. The two describe it as “a journey into heroism”, one that was “brought down to an everyday level” by the way the actor and those around him responded to seemingly impossible odds. And they have their own thoughts on what makes a hero.

Watch the official trailer

Super/Man:The Christopher Reeve Story is released in UK cinemas on 1st November. For more on the film, read our review.

About the Author

Freda Cooper

Editor

A lifelong movie fan and a film critic for over ten years, Freda’s natural habitat is the darkened rooms frequented by fellow cineastes. She can also be found asking questions of some of the biggest names in the business – from Cate Blanchett to Daniel Craig or Mike Leigh to Pete Docter – or crafting reviews for a number of sites and publications, including The People’s Movies. And listeners to BBC Local Radio can catch her views on the latest releases. She always – and probably always will – cite The Third Man as her favourite film of all time. Her top ten? That’s a moveable feast …..

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