"You Will Believe A Man Can Fly"

Everything comes full circle.

I busted my ass jumping off the side of my house with a towel wrapped around my neck pretending to be Superman when I was a kid. My mother made me the ABSOLUTE COOLEST COSTUME EVER. I dare anyone to beat my mother's costume. She hand made me a Superman costume. From scratch. She even bought me these crazy boots that she later hot glued or adhered red fabric to so that I'd have real boots. My mom fucking ROCKS. She had done it once before when I wanted to be Batman, but that's fodder for another post.

Last night, after nearly 20 years, Superman finally returns to the big screen in Brian Singer's aptly name "Superman Returns."

I've written about this before, but maybe not on the blog. I remember the first Superman poster like it was yesterday. The blue and red streaks shooting through the clouds. And the tag line, "You will believe a man can fly." Say what you will about that movie, but look at the powerhouse cast you had. Marlon Brando playing Superman's father. The great Gene Hackman as Superman's enemy. The then unknown Chris Reeve as Superman. Directed by Richard Donner. Story and script by Mario Puzo. I left there believing I was Superman. The feeling hasn't yet subsided.

I'll be honest with you. I'm scared. And I'm not even an uber geek when it comes to Superman. I never really kept up with the comic books. But when it came to my favorite superhero, hands down, it was always Superman. He died and came back, for Christ's sake!

I've got a bunch of Superman action figures. I try to look for new ones all the time to add to my collection. I try to buy two at a time, so I can take one out of the packaging.

I have yet to purchase the original Superman poster, though. I've been looking around for a print that's close to the original date and that I can afford. Although a reprint would be just as good.

I said at the beginning that everything comes full circle. Superman represents a lot of things to me. He's not just my favorite superhero. Not just one of the first movies that I really remember making an impact in my life. He's a major reason in my wanting to write and direct films. Miles Davis talks about the fire that drove his life. It was in St. Louis and the year was 1944. He'd heard that Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, among others, were going to be playing a small club around the way. He loved listening to Diz and would often play along with records and memorize solos.
He grabbed his horn and went to the venue. While he was there, a man approached him and asked him if he had his union card. He told the man he did and the man told him they needed another horn; their trumpet player had gotten sick. Miles said that at that time, he had been just chewing on everything that Dizzy ever did. He didn't recognize the man who asked him to join the band until they got up on stage and Diz began to play. He then realized who that man was.
He went on, about the Jazz heavy hitters on that stage that night. He said Bird (Charlie Parker) just mesmerized the group. He said they all took turns playing solos, one after another. He said that night he played the best music that he's ever played in his life. Ever. Everything he did after that, he said, was just an attempt to recapture that moment in '44. He chased those notes till the day he died.

I think that you could interpret that several ways. What I chose to read from it is something positive. This torch I carry for film was sparked when I saw a guy in blue and red tights fly across the screen. It wasn't the man, the myth or the legend that got me. It was what he represented: everyone has some super power inside. So we don't have x-ray vision or super strength. Maybe our gifts are intelligence, wisdom or talent. I know that's what make my wife super. She's understanding, sexy, loving and supportive.

I don't know when my gift was planted, but I know what helped it grow. And some 20 years after it sparked my dream, I'm finally going to do what it's asked me to do for more than 10 years. On July 7th, I begin shooting what will be my new film, "A Matter of Time." Even the title seems fitting. This project will test everything I've learned. There have been lots of starts and stops in this journey. Lots of pitfalls. This time, there's only blue sky.

"They are a good people Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. It is for this reason above all, their capacity for good, that I've sent them you, my only son."

You will believe a man can fly.

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