The 26-year-old actor Christopher Reeve became world-renowned for the leading role in "Superman – The Movie".
But 1995 changed everything. After falling off a horse, Christopher Reeve became paralyzed and nearly ten years later, he passed away.
The documentary film "Superman: The Christopher Reeve Story" has its Swedish cinema premiere on October 18. It would not have been possible without the contribution of his three children, Alexandra, Matthew, and Will.
The Children Involved
For the film's directors Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui, it was important that the children were involved.
Matthew Reeve is himself a filmmaker and had, after his father's accident and rehabilitation, filmed him both at the hospital and later when he ended up in a wheelchair.
We got access to his finished films, but we also searched for all the raw material. We had box after box, and at that time, nothing was digitized, says Peter Ettedgui.
Shocking Films
Some films were really shocking.
For example, a film from New Year's Eve 1994 when Chris blows out the candles on a cake and says "let's hope good things happen in the new year". A few months later, the accident occurred.
News clips and the family's films are intercut with scenes from many of the films Reeve made.
The directors jump back and forth, from the time before the accident to the time after.
We didn't want to make a traditional "biopic". This became a much better way to tell the story. Chris did the same in the autobiography he wrote. He started with the accident, says Ian Bonhote
The film depicts how Reeve began to feel trapped in the role of Superman, how he wanted to make other kinds of films.
He tried to escape from Superman before the accident, says Ian Bonhote.
But paradoxically, the image of Christopher Reeve as Superman became an asset when he started a charity organization for people who had become spinal cord injured. Something that raised a lot of money and created big headlines.
He was the first superhero on film. After the accident, he became a real-life superhero, says Ian Bonhote.
Got his big breakthrough at the age of 26 in 1978 in "Superman – The Movie". He played the character in three more films and also appeared in films like "Somewhere in Time", "A Woman's Voice", and "The Remains of the Day".
In the riding accident in 1995, Reeve suffered fractures to two vertebrae that left him paralyzed. Nine years later, he passed away, 52 years old.
