These are 30+ original pre-production concept storyboards, in colour with all sorts of little bits of card and details stuck on. These seem to be part of scenes which were never filmed and were part of an early script I found in The Superman Site, which you can find below. Amongst others, the ones above show the concept of the evil "Zod" and his superpowers. Obviously Zod didn't end up wearing a helmet like this, which shows how early in the production these were used. These storyboards were probably never seen outside the original collection. They came from the Danziger Collection, from Elstree Studios.
504 EXT. CITY STREET, METROPOLIS NIGHT
As Superman emerges, a terrible sight awaits him. We ARE IN THE INTERSECTION of a busy midtown Metropolis section. On one corner, a tall, modern glass-fronted skyscraper. On another a big department store. A hospital building down the street. The area is well lit, not only by street lights, but by big electric signs advertising various products or naming various companies, which sit on the roofs and ledges of the surrounding buildings, The Daily Planet building among them. One of these gigantic signs has been toppled, crushing about twenty people in the middle of the intersection. Many are dead. Some crawl away, hurt. Other people, a large crowd, are running in panic from the apocalypse, taking shelter in the lobby of the department store, crushing into the available space, to avoid the devastation taking place.
(NOTE: The following scene, although detailed carefully here, moves at rapid pace, one event following another in FAST CUTS so that there is no time for reflection on the part of the audience, nor) for that matter, on the part of Superman.)
In QUICK CUTS, then:
5051.The WIDE SHOT and VARIOUS ANGLES, SHOWING what has just happened.
5062.Survivors of this first disaster, yelling, run to the safety of the department store entrance.
5073.Superman seeing all this, looking up to where the sign fell from.
5084.PAN UP: Jak-El, giggling has pushed the sign. As he leaps from the now-empty rooftop, over the skeletonic sign foundation, PAN TO General Zod, on another height.
ZOD
Son of Jor-El! Bow! Bow and acknowledge
the superior power of General Zod!
5095.INTERCUT CROWD seeing Superman . Superman rushes to the fallen victims, when:
5106.JAK-EL, on another ledge, pushes over another sign. It falls with a crash, injuring the slower of the fleeing people.
ZOD
Kneel! Swear loyalty to Zod!
Stopped in his tracks, Superman -- for whom everything is happening too fast, faster than he can stop it -- races to the second sign, when:
O.S. : SCREAMING of young children.
511ON SUPERMAN: who spins around to see why.
512HIS POV: NON, across the street, hold over his head a mini school bus, which has been converted into an evacuation vehicle, as evidenced by the sign posted on its side, the suitcases on its luggage rack.
Inside the bus, about 15 children, a few nuns, a driver, scream in terror as Non rocks the bus from side to side as he holds it aloft, sending the passengers tumbling over each other.
513ON SUPERMAN:
SUPERMAN
No!
514NEW ANGLE: Before he can, NON hurls the school bus at the side of a concrete building. It crashes and EXPLODES.
SUPERMAN
Don't! Don't do this!
Why are you doing this?
JAK-EL
Cause you're so cute when you're mad.
CONTINUED
514CONTINUED
ZOD
On your knees, son of Jor-El!
O.S. the biggest SCREAMING yet. Many people in a panic.
515ON THE DEPARTMENT STORE: The mob that took refuge in there now comes charging out, in panic and hysteria, screaming.
516CLOSEUP - SUPERMAN: He doesn't know why.
CUT TO
517INT. DEPARTMENT STORE LOBBY - NIGHT
WIDE SHOT: behind the fleeing crowd, is a wall of flame.
Behind the wall of flame is Ursa, heat-vision emanating from her eyes, as she forces them into the open.
CUT TO
518EXT. DEPARTMENT STORE - NIGHT
As the crowd rushes out into the street.
CUT TO
519EXT. ROOF - DEPARTMENT STORE - NIGHT
ANGLED DOWN, WIDE, OVER THE BACK OF JAK-EL, his hands poised on the enormous electric sign of the Department store. Just as the crowd below turns out into the target area, he tips the sign over, screeching with glee:
JAK-EL
Bombs awayyyyyy!
520The sign crashes down on the crowd. Enormous destruction.
ZOD
Bow down!
Bow down and submit,
you son of Jor-El!
As if he were saying "sonofbitch."
521ON ZOD: Drawing himself up to full strength on his lofty height, he aims his ferocious eyes at what is across the street.
522WIDE: (EFFECTS) The beam from his eyes hits the vast glass front of the skyscraper.
ON THE GLASS FRONTED SKYSCRAPER: A crack appears, with a mighty SOUND, like the crack in an egg - jagged from top to bottom. An instant later, the windows start to pop and fly, some bursting out into the street, some going inwards.
INTERCUT:
5231.SHOTS of OFFICE WORKERS hit by the flying glass inside, screaming, falling. CLOSEUPS of faces cut, eyes bleeding, heads covered with broken shards of glass. Panic. Hysteria.
5242.SHOTS OF SUPERMAN: unable to prevent it. Horrified.
5253.SHOTS OF ZOD: shouting his importunities. The others, wild.
5264.THE CROWD ON THE STREET, those who have survived, massed together, are amazed at Superman's inaction. Cat calls and expressions of disappointment. Some yelling, "Get 'em! Get 'em!"
537ON SUPERMAN: He stands there, impotent, not knowing where to turn. Then:
VOICE OF URSA
Superman! Over here!
528PAN UP, WIDE: JAK-EL is now on top of the Daily Planet building, sitting astride the great electric globe that festoons the roof of the newspaper offices. Non is now on the ledge of another building across the street. Zod is on his perch, right angles to Non. Completing the square is Ursa who sits on the awning of a building whose fa‡ade reads METROPOLIS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL.
JAK-EL
Come on, local boy, Make good.
URSA
(taunting)
Is de widdle man tired?
ZOD We noticed a pavilion in the children's hospital dedicated to you. Why don't you check yourself in with the rest of the sick and weak!
529ON SUPERMAN: Looking every which way, a terrible inner struggle going on inside him. Jaw clenched, fists tight, he stands immobile.
530ON THE CROWD: Waiting, watching.
531ON SUPERMAN: He flies up, as if to confront the villains, but then, halfway there, he suddenly whips into a turn and zooms away, darting off through the buildings into the night. he is gone.
532ON THE CROWD: Some cannot believe it. Expressions of dismay. TWO BLACK KIDS, 8 and 10, with "street smarts " beyond their years, look at the sky, their cynicism confirmed.
FIRST BLACK KID
(scornfully)
Huh. Superman Didn't even do nothin'.
SECOND BLACK KID
(calling up to the sky,
the ultimate put-down)
Jive turkey!
The SOUNDS of the awful LAUGHTER of the four can be HEARD:.
533ON THE ROOFTOPS: The four are rocking with laughter.
JAK-EL
Never even threw a punch!
URSA
A coward like his rather.
Like all men.
As Non growls horrendously.
ZOD
(delighted)
And did you see his face when
I asked him to bow and he. . .
(the laugh stops suddenly)
. . . he did not bow.
(looking wildly around)
Where has he gone? Where is he?
The following concepts show a scene taking place inside a volcano. I couldn't find it anywhere, maybe the scene was part of another draft.
No comments:
Post a Comment