Ian Bonhôte (Co-Director, Producer, Co-Writer), Peter Ettedgui (Co-Director, Writer) and doc subjects Alexandra Reeve Givens, Matthew Reeve, Will Reeve chat with The Hollywood Reporter in Park City during the Sundance film festival about creating a complicated and complex documentary about Christopher Reeve for 'Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story' and being proud of their father's legacy.
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00:00 Growing up, I saw what he was in, but that's not who he was to me.
00:04 That's not who he was to us. He was just dad.
00:06 And if he were in some other line of work that's not as public-facing,
00:11 an accountant doesn't come home and say,
00:13 "Hey, let's take a look through my briefcase and see what I did at work today."
00:16 [music]
00:19 Peter and I co-directed a film called McQueen and another one Rising Phoenix.
00:23 One was about a fashion designer, the late fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen,
00:27 and the other one was about the Paralympic movements.
00:30 So I think potentially in the mind of the producers,
00:32 it was a good combination of the two to actually tell Christopher Reeve's story.
00:39 At the time, the finance wasn't raised, so we needed to meet the family,
00:44 still see, and we came in with our own company, Misfits Entertainment,
00:47 and all together we went to the market to actually try to find a finance.
00:51 It was a total no-brainer when we got the call,
00:54 because, I mean, we both grew up with Christopher Reeve as Superman,
01:00 and with the story of what happened to him after his accident.
01:03 And it was a story that we just immediately felt spoke to so many things that interest us.
01:08 And then meeting the three, these three wonderful humans,
01:12 was just, you know, just made us want to engage with this project even more.
01:16 We wanted to tell the highs and the lows to show the public persona
01:20 and the person that everybody around the world knew,
01:22 but then also show the intimacy of life at home.
01:24 But we knew that we would be handing over tapes,
01:27 we would agree to be interview subjects,
01:29 and beyond that we were going to be relinquishing control.
01:31 And so finding people that we could trust with that story,
01:34 who were going to do it justice, really mattered.
01:35 I think back to when the three of us saw a rough cut months ago.
01:41 I think our first and major note had to do with,
01:45 "You can go harder on him there, you can be more accurate here."
01:48 We wanted it to be real, whatever that was.
01:51 And because this is the story of a human being,
01:56 it is complicated and complex and at times messy and ultimately inspiring and moving,
02:01 but we wanted the project to holistically show who our dad was.
02:07 So there were times where we said, "No, you could drill down further there, that's fine."
02:11 We want the real story because we're proud of every single bit of it.
02:15 Christopher Reeve was one of the good guys.
02:17 And he remained with people, he is one of the good guys.
02:21 And I think that's one of the things that was really important in this film.
02:24 There's a lot of things that have come out from this period and era,
02:27 but there are some really good people.
02:28 We're always proud when people are interested in him and his legacy,
02:32 both in terms of the Superman story, but also of course his legacy as a disability rights advocate.
02:36 And so we are deeply involved in the work of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
02:40 We all sit on the board, we do work for them.
02:42 And that really has been a beautiful ongoing story,
02:46 that the investments in medical research have paid off,
02:49 that the advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities not to have caps on insurance paid off.
02:54 Dad didn't get to see all of that payoff, but we get to see it now,
02:58 and we get to see all of the amazing community carrying on his legacy.
03:02 And that makes us incredibly proud.
03:04 Growing up, I saw what he was in, but that's not who he was to me,
03:08 that's not who he was to us, he was just dad.
03:10 And if he were in some other line of work that's not as public-facing,
03:15 an accountant doesn't come home and say, "Hey, let's take a look through my briefcase and see what I did at work today."
03:20 They're just, they're dad, right?
03:22 And so that's how our relationship was with him as well.
03:25 And he wasn't at all intoxicated by his name or his fame as dad, he was just dad.
03:32 I will say though, the favorite thing of mine that my dad ever did was a documentary.
03:38 It was the last thing he ever filmed before his accident.
03:42 It was so perfectly him.
03:46 He followed the gray whales of the Pacific Ocean from the Bering Strait down to Baja, Mexico,
03:53 in an airplane, on boats, in scuba gear, and it's just an hour of him at his most pure.
04:01 He's quirky and enthusiastic and a little dorky and also really adventurous and super cool
04:07 because he's flying a plane and doing all this stuff.
04:09 And that's the piece of his that I always come back to if I want to connect with my dad
04:15 and spend time with the man I knew.
04:18 He wasn't Superman, that was a role he played, but to us he was a hero in a different way.
04:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]