Superman 4: Why Nuclear Man's Voice & Facial Expressions Are So Weird
The voice and facial expressions of Nuclear Man, the villain of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, are bizarre, but some behind-the-scenes info puts both into context. The last film of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, The Quest for Peace was meant to re-invigorate the Superman franchise after the disappointment of 1983's Superman III. Reeve, initially hesitant to return to the role, agreed to do so in part after being allowed to have creative input on the film.
This led to The Quest for Peace, directed by Sidney J. Furie, tackling the nuclear tensions of the Cold War, with Superman attempting to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) hatches a plot to destroy Superman with a clone of Kal-El dubbed Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow) in order to sell nuclear arms back to the world. Unfortunately, as with virtually every aspect of The Quest for Peace, Nuclear Man was far from embraced by audiences. This partly came down to the villain weirdly having the voice of Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor along with Nuclear Man's facial grimaces, but this was a byproduct of the bad circumstances of the film's production.
RELATED: Superman: Why Christopher Reeve Didn't Like Working With Marlon Brando
In a 2008 interview with Neil A. Cole of Superman Super Site, Pillow explained the process behind Nuclear Man's voice. With the superpowered henchmen bearing the voice of Lex Luthor himself, Pillow explained that Hackman recorded Nuclear Man's dialogue prior to his scenes being filmed. Pillow went on to explain, "When we shot the scenes with me when I needed to speak, I was lip-synching to him", and that his facial expressions were a result of Pillow «trying to time my lips to Gene's voice.» Unfortunately, this strategy as
Read more on screenrant.com
