A new documentary chronicling the life of Christopher Reeve has brought an audience to tears at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
The documentary has been created with the cooperation of the Superman star’s two children Matthew, Alexandra and William.
Reeve’s devoted wife Dana died in 2006 from lung cancer having cared for her husband following his paralysis from the neck due to a horse riding accident in 1995.
Reeve succumbed to his condition in 2004 at the age of 52.
Watch the video above.
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The film has been directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, who have joined the actor’s children to discuss the making of the documentary which include interviews with his children and friends.
Reeve’s audio has been retrieved from his two memoirs and used as the documentary’s narration.
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Here are the biggest revelations from the documentary.
Reeve was allergic to horses
Reeve would become a keen horseman but was so allergic to the animals he relied on antihistamines to film scenes for the movie Anna Karenina in 1984.
Despite his condition he would ride horses for most of his life.
His family considered turning off his life support
Reeve was thrown from a horse in 1995 at the age of 42, leaving him a paralysed from the neck down and shocking the world.
He later said he was ”unable to avoid thinking the darkest thoughts” during his time in hospital.
Before he regained consciousness his family debated whether he should be taken off life support but they decided to wait and hope.
When he woke he told his wife: “Maybe we should let me go.” Dana responded: “You’re still you and I love you.”
Reeve’s difficult childhood
Reeve described himself as “so f—ed up” by his parents’ bitter divorce at the age of three. His daughter Alexandra recalled her father saying it felt like “he lived on shifting sand.”
Family would understandably be important to Reeve. He married wife Dana in 1992 and the couple were known to have one of the strongest marriages in Hollywood.
He was told playing Superman was ‘selling out’
Co-star Jeff Daniels was working with Reeve and William Hurt in a play when Reeve, 24, told him he would be auditioning for Superman.
Daniels said Hurt told Reeve not to do the audition.
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“Don’t go, you’re gonna sell out,” Hurt reportedly said.
Regardless, Reeve would give an impressive performance in three Superman movies, his striking black hair and piercing blue eyes cemented his place as one of Hollywood’s leading men.
His relationship with his father remained difficult throughout his life
Reeve recalled his difficult relationship with his father, American writer F.D Reeve.
His father did not approve of his son’s role in Superman. He thought his son had been cast in George Bernard’s Shaw’s Men and ordered champagne, but was less than impressed when he was told it was, in fact, Superman.
“It was difficult to breathe easy when he was around,” Reeve said.
Reeve took the role more seriously than some of his co-stars
Reeve was excited to work with Gene Hackman who played Lex Luthor and Marlon Bardon who played Superman’s father Jor-El, however was left disappointed by Brando who he claimed was difficult and uninterested.
Reeve would say Brando “took the $2m and ran” while “phoning it in”.
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Reeve’s daughter Alexandra said: “For dad, Superman needed to be art.”
Superman was a big hit but the sequels didn’t perform as well
Reeve would play Superman in four movies including Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983) and Superman IV (1987).
Reeve didn’t enjoy the sequels as much as he did the original Superman. He described working on Superman IV “a catastrophe from start to finish” and would return to the theatre and independent movies.
“I am not a hero, never have been, never will be” he said at the time.
His first marriage to Gae Exton
Reeve’s first two children were the result of his relationship with British modelling agent Gae Exton. Those children were Matthew and Alexandria.
Exton would comment she was “effectively a single mum” at this time. Their relationship ended when Reeve co-starred with Jane Seymour in Somewhere in Time and they reportedly fell in love.
Their romance would not last and he would meet singer and and actress Dana Morosini in 1987. The pair would marry and welcome son Will.
Reeve attended therapy to overcome his fear of marriage
Reeve was reportedly terrified of marriage owing to his parents’ divorce and would attend therapy ahead of his marriage to Dana in 1992, the same year their son was born.
That was when he was able to devote his time to his three children and wife and create the family he had always dreamed of.
He was terrified he could ‘die at any moment’
Friend and actor Glenn Close said Reeve was “so terrified he could die at any moment” following his accident with left him unable to control his bowels and bladder as well as his speech.
Rehabilitation proved to be a turning point for him where he was able to learn how to best live with his damaged body. He would remain in a wheelchair for the rest of his life and require breathing assistance. The cost of his care was approximately US $400,000 per year (approx. $591,916) per year.
His advocacy work
Reeve would devote much of his time following the accident advocating for research into treating conditions like his. He would also fight for accommodations for people with disabilities.
“America does not let its needy citizens fend for themselves,” he said during a speech delivered at the Democratic National Convention in 1996.
He controversially used a visual effect to show him walking again which was described as “galvanising and polarising.”
Reeve would lobby for scientists to be allowed to conduct stem cell research in the hopes of eventually curing paralysis and other illnesses, such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Reeve would ultimately die from infection.
His relationship with his children changed following his accident
Reeve’s children said their relationship with their father changed following his accident.
Reeve himself explained: “I needed to break my neck to learn some of this stuff,” when talking about forming more personal connections with his wife and children.
Reeve’s friendship with Robin Williams
His long friendship with Robbin Williams is explored in the film. The actors lived together in their twenties as they were studying at Julliard and building their careers in Hollywood.
He would visit Reeve in hospital following the accident to help lift his spirits.
“I came in as a Russian proctologist, put on a glove and said, ‘We’re going to have to examine this thing,'” Williams said in an archival interview in the movie.
Williams would remain one of Reeve’s closest friend and Williams would be bereft at the lost of his friend following his death.
Close commented on the friendship, saying: “I’ve always thought if Chris was still around, then Robin would still be alive.”
Williams would die in 2014 at the age of 63 from suicide.
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