Richard Donner, Legendary Director of ‘The Omen’, ‘Superman’, and ‘Lethal Weapon’, Dies at 91
Richard Donner, who directed and produced some of Hollywood’s biggest hits, like Superman, The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, and X-Men has died at 91. The news was broke by his wife and co-producer, Lauren Shuler Donner. Donner was prolific and was known for his versatility directing significant hits in the horror, superhero, action, and kids adventure genres.
Donner’s first big hit as director came with 1976’s The Omen, the horror film about the young Anti-Christ Damian. The director made the smart decision to choose a subject matter more inspirational and representative of the best of human spirit for his next film. That film, of course, was 1978’s Superman which was the prototype for the superhero genre. Curiously, Donner’s film, though iconic, deserves far more recognition in ushering in the blockbuster. It gets somewhat lost in the one-upmanship played by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in the late 1970s as they both vied for the box office crown. Without Superman, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Universe would not be. Even Tim Burton’s Batman, itself a monster at the box office owes a considerable debt to Superman.
Donner directed Superman and Superman II back-to-back (a first in big-budget movie making) but had his name removed after a dispute. Richard Lester replaced him, reshot some footage, added his own touches, resulting in a lesser sequel. Donner brought out the mythic quality in superheroes, and while his Superman was light, it had a mostly serious tone. Lester, on the other hand, had a wackier touch. After Donner stepped away from Superman II, Lester made a wackeir more comedic representation that did away with much of the themes Donner established in the first film. Lester also cut Marlon Brando’s scenes, after the actor was fired. In 2006, Donner got a chance to restore his vision with his director’s cut, though its more of an idea of what he planned, rather than a complete version. He included less than 20% of Lester’s footage, but he had to make do with incomplete footage shot 25 years earlier, even including footage from screen tests. The result is far more contiguous with the first film, and is generally praised as a far superior version to Lester’s theatrical cut.
After Superman, Donner continued to push himself directing hit after hit in completely different genres like the medieval adventure Ladyhawke, the Spielberg-inspired kids’ film The Goonies, and Scrooged (1988), a beloved Christmas comedy starring Bill Murray. Donner is perhaps most famous for reinventing the buddy cop film with 1987’s Lethal Weapon. Not only did he give a white man and a black man equal billing, which was unheard of at the time, he also examined the psyche of a suicidal cop with surprising depth. Donner, and the film’s star Mel Gibson, deftly incorporated light comedy with gritty violence. The film made Gibson one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and spawned three sequels all directed by Donner.
Gibson and Donner collaborated further on Maverick (1994) and Conspiracy Theory (1997). Gibson remembered Donner’s humility saying: “Donner! My friend, my mentor. Oh, the things I learned from him! He undercut his own talent and greatness with a huge chunk of humility referring to himself as ‘merely a traffic cop.’ He left his ego at the door and required that of others. He was magnanimous of heart and soul, which he liberally gave to all who knew him.”
Donner directed numerous action stars since working with Gibson, including Sylvester Stallone (Assassins), Paul Walker (Timeline), and Bruce Willis (16 Blocks), which was his last film. He planned to return to direct Lethal Weapon 5 (tentatively titled Lethal Final), with both Danny Glover and Mel Gibson set to reprise their roles. Still, even though his directing career ended in 2006, his career as a producer was still going strong up to his death with The Goonies 2 greenlit for production in the near future.
With his producer-wife Lauren Shuler Donner, he produced over two dozen films including the X-Men franchise (Richard Donner as executive producer; Lauren Schuler Donner as producer) and 1993’s Free Willy and its sequels.
