‘Superman’ star Christopher Reeve's kids say accident changed his outlook: ‘Needed to break my neck to learn' (2024)

It's been 20 years since the death of beloved "Superman" star Christopher Reeve, and now, a new documentary is revealing details about the actor’s life before and after his paralyzing accident.

In 1995, Reeve fell from a horse at an equestrian competition, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. Nine years later, he passed away at age 52 in 2004 after suffering a heart attack following an infection.

"With 2024 being the 20-year anniversary of our father’s death, that felt like the right time to reintroduce him and his heroic story to the world," his youngest son, Will Reeve, told Deadline.

Will credited the team behind the documentary titled "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story," including directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, adding, "Everything came together in a way that we knew as a family we could be open and honest and vulnerable and hand everything over to them and see what they came back with. And that trust has been rewarded in a way that we’re just so thrilled about and can’t wait for the world to experience as well."

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Christopher Reeve's children, Matthew, Alexandra and Will, were heavily involved in the new documentary about his life, "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story." (Getty Images)

"Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story" premiered at Sundance over the weekend and is seeking distribution.

All three of Reeve’s children, Matthew and Alexandra with Gae Exton, and Will with wife Dana Reeve, participated in the documentary, which shares incredible new details and behind-the-scenes footage from Reeve’s life.

"One of the joys is that they uncovered so much archival footage. So, there’s the outtakes from the original audition for ‘Superman,’ interviews with dad from the ’70s and ’80s when we were still young kids," Alexandra told The Wrap.

She added, "Seeing him at the height of fame and even old home movies we hadn’t spent much time with – suddenly we’re uncovering these moments and seeing them on the big screen. All of that woven together has been really beautiful and powerful."

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Reeve's children are looking forward to sharing more of their father with people through the documentary. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

One of the more surprising revelations from the documentary is how Reeve’s relationship with his children changed following his accident.

According to Variety, in the documentary, Matthew recalls that his father left to ski in France the day after he was born and often showed love through competition with his kids, like taking them skiing then racing ahead of them.

"Our love language was activity before," Alexandra told Variety. "Suddenly, you’re spending time just hanging out in dad’s office looking each other in the eye and talking for two hours."

According to The Guardian, Reeve acknowledged the changes, saying, "I needed to break my neck to learn some of this stuff."

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Reeve is shown with his former partner, Gae Exton, and Alexandra and Matthew in 1984. Reeve's children revealed that their relationship with their father changed for the better following his accident. (Parker/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The film also touches on Reeve’s own difficult relationship with his father.

"It was difficult to breathe easy when he was around," Reeve said of his father, per The Guardian.

The outlet also noted Reeve’s children recall an unverified family tale of Reeve’s father ordering champagne when his son earned the role of Superman, mistakenly thinking he had won a part in the George Bernard Shaw play "Man and Superman." After he realized the mix-up, Reeve’s father reportedly didn’t approve.

Reeve himself struggled with being known for "Superman" and the concept of being a hero.

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Reeve's relationship with his most iconic role was complicated. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

Prior to taking the role, he had concentrated on theater, which Alexandra said in the documentary was a refuge after a childhood "so f--ked up" by his parents' divorce at age 3, per The Guardian.

Jeff Daniels, who worked with Reeve onstage, recalled that fellow co-star William Hurt advised against taking the superhero role, saying, "Don’t go, you’re going to sell out."

The experience of filming the movie with the iconic Marlon Brando wasn’t exactly what Reeve had hoped for, with The Guardian noting that he described Brando as "phoning it in" and that he "took the $2 million and ran."

Alexandra said, "For Dad, Superman needed to be art."

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Reeve reportedly wasn't excited to be in the "Superman" sequels. (Keystone/Getty Images)

According to The Guardian’s reporting, Reeve wasn’t thrilled to be in the sequels and called Superman IV "a catastrophe from start to finish."

"I am not a hero, never have been, never will be," he reportedly said.

Will explained to Variety that though he’s best known for the title role in "Superman," it’s a smaller role in the Oscar-nominated "Remains of the Day," co-starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, of which he was the proudest.

"He was so proud of his role in that movie. It’s not a big role. It’s an important role in the film," he told the outlet. "He got to show a completely different side of himself. I knew how proud he was of that. Not that he wasn’t proud of ‘Superman’ … but if he were here, he wouldn’t choose ‘Superman,’ he’d choose ‘Remains of the Day.’ I don’t think about the ‘Superman’ films as much as I do about the swings he got took beyond this larger-than-life role."

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Reeve's son, Will, told Variety his father was most proud of his work in the Oscar-nominated "Remains of the Day" alongside Anthony Hopkins. (Mikki Ansin/Getty Images)

The documentary also delves into his journey into advocacy following his accident.

When he was first hospitalized, Reeve, according to The Guardian, was "unable to avoid thinking the darkest thoughts" and told his wife Dana, "Maybe we should let me go."

He eventually worked through those difficult moments, but every day remained a struggle.

"We’d all wake up every morning and think anything could happen. But he would wake up and then remember all over again that he couldn’t move," Will told Variety.

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Reeve struggled with dark thoughts in the immediate aftermath of his accident. (Michael Stephens/PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

Reeve went through rehab with support from celebrities like Robert De Niro, Katherine Hepburn and Paul McCartney, according to The Guardian. The outlet also reported that in her interview in the film, Glenn Close recalled "he was so terrified that he could die at any moment."

His famous friendship with Robin Williams is featured prominently in the documentary. The two met and were roommates at Juilliard as young men and stayed close friends all their lives.

Per The Guardian, Close said in the documentary, "I’ve always thought if Chris was still around, then Robin would still be alive."

As he adjusted to his new life, Reeve became heavily involved in disability advocacy and fundraising for research for spinal cord injuries.

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Robin Williams and Reeve were friends for years, going back to their pre-fame days at Juilliard. (Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

"Things came easily to him early in his life," one of the film’s directors Ian Bonhote told Variety. "Then, as Christopher said, ‘The one minority anyone can become part of in an instant, is disability.’ I think that there was a genuine opening to the world around him on a different level. It would be facile to say, ‘Oh, this is a triumph over adversity story,’ but it is turning adversity into opportunity."

"I think he was very conscious of that irony and the legacy of ‘Superman’ when people viewed his story and thought about him after the accident," Alexandra told the outlet. "He talked about redefining what it is to be a hero… it’s an everyday person who survives despite overwhelming obstacles."

Reeve’s wife Dana, who died shortly after him from cancer in 2006, also gets her due in the documentary.

Reeve's wife, Dana, was by his side until his death and sadly lost her own battle with cancer in 2006. (Theo Wargo/WireImage)

"What I’m just beyond touched by and so proud of is the way that the filmmakers tell my mom’s story, the way that my mom, Dana, features in this documentary because she featured so heavily as you might expect in our lives," their son, Will, told The Wrap.

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He continued, "As much of an honor as it is to be the son of Christopher Reeve, I’m also the son of Dana Reeve. Anytime I can tell her story and share with the world what a singular force she was makes me so proud."

Will and his siblings are on the board of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, an organization "dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by advancing innovative research and improving the quality of life for individuals and families impacted by paralysis," according to its website.