Was the grand finale of the Flash movie a good idea? Was the Flash movie, with its chaotic star and a dying cinematic universe, itself a good idea? Let’s answer the first question first. The film, whose breathless build-up resulted in a thud of an opening weekend, builds to a time warpy, multiversey conclusion, in which past screen incarnations of DC superheroes are all smushed together thanks to the magic of CGI and IP dynamism. Alas, not everyone was a fan. Nicolas Cage, whose aborted take on Superman found itself resurrected, wasn’t so hot on the final results. Others expressed mere, powerful indifference.
Per Variety, the children of the late Christopher Reeve — Will, Matthew and Alexandra — were at Sundance this weekend showing off the new documentary about their father, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. Reeve, of course, was most famous for playing the Man of Steel in four movies, including the 1978 original, which kickstarted the idea that movies should take comic book fare seriously.
The three were perhaps inevitably asked what they thought about their father being digitally inserted into one of last year’s biggest bombs. Rather than slam or praise it, they had another, unexpected response: They hadn’t even seen the film. What’s more, they had no involvement in the cameo.
In fact, they pushed back at the idea that their father, an accomplished, Juilliard-trained thespian, should only or even mostly be remembered for playing Supes:
“In our hometown in Bedford, New York…the local movie theater went through a rebrand a few years ago,” Will said. “The person in charge of that shift reached out to me and said they’d love to have me screen a film of my choice of my dad’s. I responded, ‘Sure, but not Superman. We’re going to do “Remains of the Day.”‘ He was so proud of his role in that movie. It’s not a big role. It’s an important role in the film. He got to show a completely different side of himself. I knew how proud he was of that. Not that he wasn’t proud of Superman…but if he were here he wouldn’t choose Superman, he’d choose ‘Remains of the Day.’ I don’t think about the Superman films as much as I do about the swings he got took beyond this larger-than-life role.”
You can stream The Flash on Max, and the same goes for Reeve’s Superman films.
(Via Variety)