Robert Ford spent the first 18 years of his life in the Western Cape town of Wellington before moving to the UK, where he began his career in the film business. Over the past decade, Ford has been involved as a producer with the Emmy-winning documentaries, The Deepest Breath (about free diver Alessia Zecchini) and Rising Phoenix (the inspirational story of Paralympians from around the world and the challenges they face on their way to the Paralympic Games). Ford has also worked with renowned American documentarian Alex Gibney on his 2019 film Citizen K about Russian oligarch-turned- Putin dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Now, reteaming with Rising Phoenix directors Ian Benhôte and Peter Ettedgui, Ford has produced Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which won this year’s Bafta for best documentary.
The broad outlines of Reeve’s story are well known. A struggling actor picked out of obscurity to play the Man of Steel in Richard Donner’s groundbreaking 1978 film Superman, Reeve became the globally recognised and celebrated embodiment of the world’s most iconic superhero over the course of the next decade as he reprised his role in a further three films. Chiselled, strong-jawed, jet-black haired — Reeve was, for much of the 1980s, one of the world’s biggest stars — trapped in a fame glare, unable to escape and pursue serious acting roles.
In 1995, Reeve suffered an awful tragedy. He was thrown from a horse and paralysed from the neck down. The world, aghast, waited to see if Superman would even be able to speak again. Over the following years, until his death in 2004 at the age of 52, Reeve became a real-life Superman for millions, emerging as a global icon and spokesperson for the disabled community, advocating for their rights, recognition and equal treatment in a society that often refused to acknowledge them.
Though Ford had been aware of Reeve's story as a teenager, he hadn't imagined he'd make a film about the man. “When the opportunity to make the film came along it was a no-brainer,” said Ford. “Especially when I discovered how much archive material the family had, and that the family would be involved.”
Initially Ford and the directors thought that their documentary would be a straight, linear-narrative, biographical film. They soon realised there was a better approach, which was suggested by Reeve’s own experience. Ford recalls that the idea to tell the story in a series of flashbacks came from Reeve himself. “We have audio of him reading the autobiography. Chris says, 'From the hospital bed my life was like a series of flashbacks or like a slide show before my eyes.' That became a more natural way to tell the story,” said Ford.
The involvement of the Reeve family was fortuitous rather than a hindrance to Ford and the filmmakers. “They were emotionally ready when this approach came along. It was coming up to the 20th anniversary of Chris's death. They'd sorted through boxes of archives and photos and had categorised everything. Daniel Kilroy, an executive producer on the film, approached them and asked if they wanted to make a documentary with the archives,” said Ford. The family agreed and ceded editorial control to the filmmakers, a rare freedom in the making of biographical documentaries about famous icons. Ford was also relieved that the family agreed that it shouldn't be a puff piece that put their father on a pedestal, but should portray him warts and all. “They were great collaborators but didn't try to own the film or have control over it,” said Ford.
Some of Reeve’s less flattering personal history, including his relationship with the mother of his two first children, Gae Exton, is included in the film. There’s also the heartbreaking tragedy of the death of his great romantic love, his wife Dana who supported him throughout his life and played a key role in the foundation for disability rights they founded together. She died in 2006 two years after Reeve, 10 months after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Neither Christopher nor Dana were alive to witness the final tangential tragedy, when Reeve’s oldest, closest friend from his acting student days and his constant supporter Robin Williams took his own life in 2014. As actor Glen Close hypothesises in an interview in the documentary, had Reeve been alive, Williams may not have made such a tragic choice.
The film has touched the hearts of critics and audiences, and Ford has been gratefully surprised by the response. “We've been contacted by people who say they've responded to the film on an emotional level because it's about family and love. We also get contacted by people with similar spinal injuries.”
Ultimately the film tells the inspirational story of a very famous man, though its story and themes are universal. “In a country like South Africa where there's an ongoing struggle for equality, it's very relevant. Chris tried to help marginalised people feel heard and seen. He wanted to give them a place in the world.”
- Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is streaming on Showmax
