SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Before the Avengers and other superheroes took over the box office, there was Superman. And for millions of moviegoers, Superman was Christopher Reeve...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SUPERMAN")
CHRISTOPHER REEVE: (As Superman) Easy, miss. I've got you.
MARGOT KIDDER: (As Lois Lane) You've got me. Who's got you?
DETROW: And Christopher Reeve was Superman. Reeve was a larger-than-life presence on the screen, playing the Man of Steel in four "Superman" films. And then came the horseback riding accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down.
A new documentary, "Super/Man," tells Reeve's story before and after that day. Private home movies show Reeve as a kinetic force of a father and husband, always in motion with his wife, Dana, and with his children.
ALEXANDRA REEVE GIVENS: Whether it was skiing or sailing or riding or playing the piano, he just did everything at this completely excellent level.
DETROW: Alexandra Reeve Givens is Reeve's daughter. She says at first, Reeve struggled to adapt to life in a wheelchair. But as the film shows, the accident forced him to change how he approached parenting as well. And for Givens and her siblings, that was a surprise blessing.
GIVENS: We got even more quality time. You know, who sits and talks to their teenagers for a couple hours in their office every day? But that's exactly how our dad connected with us. And we ended up surprised, maybe, but ultimately really grateful for that added layer and perspective to our relationship.
DETROW: He says at one point in the movie that he was never in a wheelchair in his dreams through all the years.
GIVENS: Yeah.
DETROW: This is a personal question, but I - can I ask, when you think about your dad, when you remember your dad, is it more pre- or post-accident? What's the mental image?
GIVENS: You know, it's funny. I actually asked that question of Dana once, too, after he'd passed away. I said, who is the dad that you remember? And her answer was the same as mine. It's the more recent dad. It's the dad in the wheelchair. And what she said to me, I'll never forget. It was just, you know, a regular call on a weekday, but I was thinking of her, and she said, I mourned your old dad a long time ago. The one I miss is my buddy and best friend now. And that's how I feel, too.
When I think about him, when I dream about him, he is in the wheelchair. He's there giving an encouraging smile. We're working on a writing project together. It's holding his hand while it's in the hand rest on the wheelchair as we're sitting together watching a movie. You know, that was almost the largest kind of portion of time that I spent with him, and it's how he's seared in my memory forever...
DETROW: Yeah.
GIVENS: ...In a beautiful way.
DETROW: Yeah. Obviously, the role of Superman is a big part of this movie. And I really thought the arc of his relationship with that character was so interesting in how it plays out. You know, you have these clips of interviews where he's talking about the emotional approach of the character of Superman and thinking about - you know, just how seriously he was taking this role.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY")
REEVE: What is it to be an orphan? What is it to be different? What is it to be an alien? What is it to have lost one home? Now you're acting something you can understand, rather than just posing.
DETROW: That is all true of Superman, but I guess I wouldn't have...
GIVENS: (Laughter).
DETROW: ...Thought about it in the context and just, like, the disappointment he has in Marlon Brando for not showing up in the same way, which was really...
GIVENS: It's so earnest, right?
DETROW: Yeah.
GIVENS: But he committed to every single thing he did, even if it was bringing a comic book character to life.
DETROW: And then, of course, there are the years of frustration of, now I'm only being seen as Superman, and I want to do other roles on the stage. I mean, that scene of him and Jeff Daniels being heckled for kissing in a play (laughter) - I just thought it must have been frustrating for him.
GIVENS: It really was. And it's funny. They managed to find my dad's old audition tapes. And he's 24 years old, has just flown over on a plane to London, where the film was being cast. He's as skinny as can be, has these massive sweat stains on the, you know, makeshift Superman costume, has shoe polish on his hair, so it looks black, like the cartoon character. And even there, the man is giving it his all.
DETROW: Yeah.
GIVENS: I mean, he is. It's actually the same performance that, you know, would actually be on the big screen multiple years later when the movie was done. But to your point, he put in this great performance. He did it having graduated from Juilliard and being a serious, classically trained actor. And for him, he wanted to push himself, to get back to the theater, to get back to stretch performances. And as his friend Jeff Daniels says in this piece, you know, the audiences just weren't ready for that. They weren't ready for him to kiss Michael Caine in "Deathtrap." They weren't ready for him to push himself in "Fifth Of July" to play, you know, a disabled character and to be in a relationship. They just weren't ready for it. And I think that was disappointing sometimes.
DETROW: Yeah. And I did, on the audition tape, appreciate the sweat stains 'cause, you know, I feel like him as Superman is like this generational image of confidence. And there he is...
GIVENS: (Laughter) Yes, exactly.
DETROW: ...Like, sweating through the suit like, I hope I get this part. Can you talk about what you hope the message is that people get from this film when it comes to the role of the caregivers when somebody is so seriously injured?
GIVENS: Caregivers really are the unsung heroes across society. And it's so easy to kind of overlook and take that for granted, what it was for Dana to put much of her life on hold - she herself was an actress and a performer - and instead really focus on being there not only for my dad, but for my younger brother and for our whole family.
But she wasn't doing it from some, you know, elevated sense of nobility. If it were pity alone, it wouldn't have worked. My dad was her partner, and he was holding her up the whole time that she was holding him up. And so I love that the film captured these scenes that are just so tender between them. I have a favorite part of the movie where you see her making him a cup of tea at night, and she kind of smiles at the camera. My older brother actually is the one who's filming it. And then she walks quietly down the hallway, and you see a minute later that she's curled up with him in bed. The ventilator cord is kind of going over her legs. And they're just hanging out, watching TV, having a normal night together.
And not everybody sees that - right? - or really thinks about that beautifully human part of life after a disability and what it is to stay connected to someone in such a beautiful way. And I'm - if anybody watches this and connects with it in some way, either being seen themselves because they are a caregiver, or they're just thinking about what it is to show up for your partner in life or your friends in life, I think there's a lot for people to take away.
DETROW: Yeah. Alexandra Reeve Givens - her dad is Christopher Reeve, and the new documentary about his life, called "Super/Man," is in theaters now. Thank you so much.
GIVENS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN WILLIAMS' "LOVE THEME FROM SUPERMAN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
