Donner's Superman 2

Superman II
The Richard Donner version

Scenes 432 - 445 - "Made mortal for love"

432 INT. FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE - DAY

CAMERA LOOKS UP at one of the high, hidden recesses of the Fortress. A FIGURE appears, dressed in the familiar colors of red, yellow and blue.

JOR-EL'S VOICE
The people of your planet must be well pleased with you, Kal-El. You have served them faithfully and they are surely grateful for it.
(changing tone)
And yet, you have returned here to reason with me once again.

1

CAMERA ZOOMS IN: it is LOIS, dressed in a SUPERMAN shirt, sleeves rolled up, the shirt itself hanging almost down to her knees. She tentatively edges around the side of the recess, looks off and down.

433 ANGLE ON SUPERMAN - LOIS' POV

SUPERMAN sits below on the crystal bench near the energy bank across the Fortress. The giant head of JOR-EL peers down at him, deeply disturbed.

JOR-EL
My son, I have tried to anticipate your every question. This is one... I had hoped you would not ask.

434 CLOSER ON SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN rises from the bench for the first time to converse with his father while standing. His seeming bravado is betrayed slightly by his trembling body. Clearing his throat nervously, he looks up.

SUPERMAN
No attachment...
(corrects himself)
The... feelings I have developed for a certain human being have... affected me deeply, father.

JOR-EL
(almost cold)
You cannot serve humanity by investing your time and emotion in one human being at the expense of the rest.

SUPERMAN
And...
(daring to say it)
If I no longer wish to... serve humanity?

JOR-EL
Is this how you repay their gratitude? By abandoning the weak, the defenseless, the needy - for the sake of your selfish pursuits?

SUPERMAN
(defiant)
Selfish! After all I've done for them? Will there ever come a time I've served enough? At least they get a chance for happiness! I only ask as much - no more.

JOR-EL
Yours is a higher happiness! The fulfillment of your missions! Your inspiration! You must have felt that happiness within you...
(quietly)
My son, surely you cannot deny that feeling.

JOR-EL stares down impassively, speechless for once.

435 BACK TO LOIS

LOIS watches with deep emotion.

436 BACK TO SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN looks up at the silent JOR-EL, quietly pleading.

SUPERMAN
Is there... no way, then, father? Must I finally be denied the one thing in life... that I truly desire?

JOR-EL
(long pause)
If you will not be Kal-EL - if you will live as one of them... love their kind as one of them, then it follows that you must become... one of them.

The rounded section of polarized blue glass which had always seemed an integral part of the Fortress wall now suddenly detaches itself, slowly moves out towards SUPERMAN. We see that it is, in fact, a circular chamber.

JOR-EL
This crystal chamber has in it the harnessed rays of the red sun of Krypton. Once exposed to them, all your great powers on Earth will disappear. Forever.

2

The crystal chamber stops a few feet away. It opens in a circular iris. SUPERMAN looks at it apprehensively.

437 BACK TO LOIS

LOIS watches, paralyzed.

438 BACK TO SCENE

JOR-EL looks down, speaks slowly, distinctly.

JOR-EL
Once it is done, there is no going back. You will feel like an ordinary man. You can be harmed like an ordinary man...

SUPERMAN steps slowly towards the chamber.

JOR-EL
(suddenly)
Think, Kal-El! I beg you!

439 CLOSE ON SUPERMAN

3

SUPERMAN stares up, the tension visible in his face. He pauses, blinks, swallows hard.

SUPERMAN
(quietly)
Father, I love her.

SUPERMAN turns, walks into the chamber. JOR-EL'S face falls as the door rises closed behind him.

440 CLOSE ON LOIS

LOIS bites her lip, slowly shuts her eyes.

441 ANGLE ON CHAMBER

4	This is a sketch done by production designer John Barry for Superman II in 1977. The description reads "Interior Fortress of Solitude - restructuring chamber - turns red."

Violent light changes begin inside the chamber - lazer effects of the Krypton sun burst through it from the inside. The outer glass of the chamber becomes an increasingly deeper blue.

442 WIDE SHOT

There is visual chaos in the Fortress. The multi-planed images of JOR-EL seem to fight the chamber process - dim away, then glow brightly again as if locked in a struggle with the inanimate object. The rows of crystals shatter like so many light bulbs.

443 ANGLE ON LOIS

LOIS is terrified. She turns away, is suddenly faced by a huge projection of JOR-EL'S face: his eyes seem to be staring straight at her - they flash with seething hatred. LOIS screams, buries her face as:

444 EXTREME WIDE ANGLE

A final burst of light passes through the crystal chamber. The images of JOR-EL simultaneously disappear. The chamber glass turns a deadly blue-black. There is absolute silence.

445 ANGLE ON CHAMBER FROM ABOVE

The chamber, seen from the opposite high end of the fortress. LOIS' face enters frame, looks at it silently, tears running down her face.

Sources:
1 - film.com.
2, 3, 4 - original source unknown; image courtesy of Superman CINEMA.

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