Documentary Explores SUPERMAN’s Christopher Reeve’s Journey to Stardom
By Movieguide® Contributor
SUPERMAN star Christopher Reeve died 20 years ago, but his memory lives on through the new documentary SUPER/MAN: A CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last weekend.
Reeve is famously known for the accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down in 1995 when he fell off a horse. He died nine years later from a heart attack.
His daughter, Alexandra, shared how her father’s unfortunate accident changed the dynamic of their relationship.
“Our love language was activity before,” Alexandra told Variety. “Suddenly, you’re spending time just hanging out in dad’s office looking each other in the eye and talking for two hours.”
The documentary features “Never-before-seen home movies and extraordinary personal archives [that] reveal how Christopher Reeve went from unknown actor to iconic movie star as the ultimate screen superhero. He learned the true meaning of heroism as an activist after suffering a tragic accident that left him quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator to breathe.”
“All three of Reeve’s children, Matthew and Alexandra with Gae Exton, and Will with wife Dana Reeve, participated in the documentary, which shares incredible new details and behind-the-scenes footage from Reeve’s life,” Fox News reported.
“With 2024 being the 20-year anniversary of our father’s death, that felt like the right time to reintroduce him and his heroic story to the world,” Will Reeve said. “…Everything came together in a way that we knew as a family we could be open and honest and vulnerable and hand everything over to them and see what they came back with. And that trust has been rewarded in a way that we’re just so thrilled about and can’t wait for the world to experience as well.”
The premier was a success, as Reeve’s touching life story left many viewers in tears. One such moment was a past interview with the late Robin Williams, who was Reeve’s friend and roommate at Juilliard. The film said of their friendship, “It was Williams who cheered up a despondent Reeve, who, at the height of his pain, whispered to his wife, Dana, ‘Maybe we should let me go.’”
Williams died by suicide in 2014. In the documentary, Glen Close said, “I’ve always thought if Chris was still around, then Robin would still be alive.”
“I lost five pounds from the tears,” one audience member said after the film.
Although Reeve played Superman on screen, he became a real-life hero in his own right. The documentary highlighted how he and his wife partnered with the American Paralysis Association to create what is now the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which aims to help those who have been paralyzed as well as work toward finding a cure.
