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The Decca soundtrack features various hits from the 1950’s & includes tracks from such legends as The Platters, John Coltrane and Little Richard.
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The 1959 death of George Reeves, an icon to millions as Superman, is a Hollywood mystery that continues to command interest nearly 50 years later. Despite being notoriously unresolved, the case is so well-documented that Hollywoodland screenwriter Paul Bernbaum was able to use equal parts factual research and inspiration to craft his original screenplay.
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Hollywoodland is a uniquely compelling exploration of fame and identity, inspired by one of Hollywood’s most infamous real-life mysteries. The film is the feature directorial debut for Allen Coulter (Emmy and DGA Award nominee for his work on The Sopranos and Sex and the City).
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The Decca soundtrack features various hits from the 1950’s & includes tracks from such legends as The Platters, John Coltrane and Little Richard.
The soundtrack is not only the perfect backdrop to Hollywoodland, but also plays an integral part in the film. It really helps the viewer go back in time to an era that was full of hopes and dreams of making it big in a place where it could all happen. Nostalgic tracks such as “The Great Pretender” by The Platters, “The Girl Can’t Help It” by Little Richard and “He Will Break Your Heart” by Jerry Butler provide a feeling of fun and innocence while John Coltrane’s “Theme For Ernie” and “You’re Crying” by King Pleasure exude sensuality and mystery.
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The 1959 death of George Reeves, an icon to millions as Superman, is a Hollywood mystery that continues to command interest nearly 50 years later. Despite being notoriously unresolved, the case is so well-documented that Hollywoodland screenwriter Paul Bernbaum was able to use equal parts factual research and inspiration to craft his original screenplay.
Bernbaum reflects, “I lived for Adventures of Superman as a kid. I read the comic books, I’d seen the cartoons, but there was something about Reeves – I knew he was an actor, and I knew it was a TV show, but I also knew that if Superman were real, he would be exactly like Reeves. He connected with me and with every other kid who used to watch. As an adult, looking back on my continuing fondness for the show, which included buying one of his original TV costumes at auction, I kept thinking that there had to be something special about the guy – and there was.
“I’d been playing around with writing a screenplay about him for years; Reeves’ life was colorful, compelling, and ultimately tragic. But I also wanted to dramatize the unease he felt at being Superman against the incredible impact that being Superman had on his fans. Here was an actor who wanted to be a star, and became a giant one, bigger than he ever could have imagined – but only to kids. Yet, even living with that disappointment, and the resentment of knowing that being Superman blocked any chance he had at what he considered a legitimate career, he always recognized the place he held in the hearts of millions of children. He never let them down; to them, he was Superman, and, to me, that made him a true hero.”
Hollywoodland producer Glenn Williamson comments, “What Paul did that was so original was to build the script around the detective, Louis Simo. This allowed him to be very authentic with George Reeves’ story. So you’re brought in by the famous mystery – and held by a multilayered and very human character story.”
Williamson began working to bring the script to the screen in the fall of 2001. He says, “I knew right away that these were roles any actors would love to play, and here was a script about a compelling universal theme; we all fixate on what we don’t have, and don’t see what we do have.
“From an historical standpoint, the death of George Reeves was a loss of innocence for a whole generation. It had an impact on millions of people. When you look at the headlines that ran after he died, just about every one said ‘Superman Dies’ or ‘Superman on Television Dies’ or some such – and not ‘George Reeves Died.’ Here was an actor, playing an invincible character, whose own mortality was cut short. We wanted to show who the person was, which in turn informs another man’s increasing awareness of who he is.”
Director Allen Coulter read the script a year later, and found it to be “smart and incredibly well-written, a tale of two men who want to be someone other than who they are. I also thought it was a unique take on a great period – from the heyday of the movies through the impact of early television – that hadn’t really been explored in a serious story. The minute I finished reading it, I called my agent.” Not long after, Coulter committed to make his feature film directorial debut on the project.
Reflecting on the strength of the story and the characters, he notes, “The stories reverberate in each other, and both storylines are enriched as a result. Both of these men are too caught up in a Hollywood dream to appreciate what they have and what is authentic in their lives. They’re each less of a star in their respective fields than they want to be. They believe that such success will legitimize their very being in the eyes of the world – and, therefore, in their own eyes. It is Simo’s journey of discovering George’s story that finally grants him a new perspective on his own life.
“For Simo, at the beginning it’s just a gig, a money job. As the film progresses, Simo becomes more and more engrossed in Reeves’ life – and gives a damn about the man. He also realizes, ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’”
Having worked on Hollywoodland for several years, the director and producer developed an abiding respect and compassion for the late actor. Coulter remarks, “Reeves, in my opinion, suffered from feeling that he never got to fulfil all of his possibilities as an actor. He was very troubled by the perception of him, not as a serious actor, but ‘just this guy who played Superman.’ We hope we have brought his story to light and point people towards the proper place he occupies in Hollywood history.
“We all have a plan for our lives – until life changes it. Reeves’ plan was altered by World War II. He had such a fortuitous beginning – what with Gone with the Wind as his first movie – but when he came back from serving his country, he could not really get his career going again in the Hollywood system. Being in his early 30s, he was already perceived as ‘a little old’ for Hollywood. He became huge in another medium, but it didn’t mean much to him – and he certainly wasn’t making millions of dollars like the actors who play superheroes in movies today.”
Coulter marvels, “Millions of children thought of this man – who was childless in real life – as a father figure who was strong and all-knowing. The little wink that he added to the character spoke to children; they thought he was winking at them. At their ages, they couldn’t necessarily make the separation between the actor and the character.”
Williamson adds, “Reeves, as a creative talent, wanted to do different things. Ironically, the phenomenal success of the program made that impossible. Reeves was the key element of something that was very significant for a whole generation, yet it wasn’t enough for him in his personal life. If you take the time to watch the shows, you’ll see that they’re entertaining but they also had messages of tolerance and good values like justice and honor.”
In seeking to honor George Reeves’ legacy, the filmmakers knew that casting the actor who could best convey the different personal and professional sides of Reeves was crucial. “Ben Affleck’s respect for George Reeves as a human being is huge,” states Coulter. “He got heavily involved in researching Reeves from the beginning, and became deeply engaged in playing him and paying tribute.”
Affleck reveals, “For me, there was a much larger responsibility even than that of playing a real person. This is a man who, in his life, would not get credit for being his own person. I found that he had been in a car crash once, and kind of fainted. The newspapers then said, ‘Superman Faints at Sight of Own Blood.’ People were very flip and snide about him. It was demeaning, and he deserved better.
“The contrast intrigued me; he was very frustrated and sad, but people thought, ‘Well he should be so happy.’ He took the job to earn a living, and to keep working. He became one of first actors to experience the real frustration of typecasting. Everyone who watched Superman felt a sense of ownership of, and familiarity with, him that I think made him uncomfortable and self-conscious. People expected him to actually be Superman. To me, Hollywoodland says something about how we as a culture venerate and then devour our cultural icons.”
“I’ve worked with Ben before, and I hadn’t seen him as happily focused on his work as I did on Hollywoodland,” says Williamson. “There were a lot of actors who wanted to play Reeves, but I knew Ben would identify with the role and be perfect for it.”
“Ben understood certain things about George Reeves; there are a number of traits they share,” adds Coulter. “From everything we heard or read, Reeves was a very likable and charming man. Ben is, too – and he knows a thing or two about being vulnerable as an actor in Hollywood.”
Reflecting on what he ascertained about Reeves from his research, Affleck notes, “He was known as ‘Honest George,’ and he spent a lot of time trying to make other people feel better – partly to shore himself up. He was generous and, by all accounts, lent out far more money than he probably had; he was garrulous and funny, and could play the guitar and speak several languages. He was a man, in the era’s sense of the word.
“George wasn’t perfect; he was too ambitious and impatient, and maybe too interested in what was on the surface. But I believe he lived his life with a tremendous amount of character.”
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Hollywoodland is a uniquely compelling exploration of fame and identity, inspired by one of Hollywood’s most infamous real-life mysteries. The film is the feature directorial debut for Allen Coulter (Emmy and DGA Award nominee for his work on The Sopranos and Sex and the City).
June 16, 1959. The glamour of Tinseltown permanently fades for actor George Reeves, the heroic Man of Steel on TV’s Adventures of Superman, as the actor dies in his Hollywood Hills home. Felled by a single gunshot wound, Reeves (portrayed in Hollywoodland by Academy Award winner Ben Affleck) leaves behind a fiancée – aspiring starlet Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney) – and millions of fans who are shocked by his death. But it is his grieving mother, Helen Bessolo (Lois Smith), who will not let the questionable circumstances surrounding his demise go unaddressed. Helen seeks justice, or at least answers. The Los Angeles Police Department closes the case, but Helen hires – for $50 a day – private detective Louis Simo (Academy Award winner Adrien Brody). Simo soon ascertains that the torrid affair Reeves had with Toni Mannix (Academy Award nominee Diane Lane), the wife of MGM studio executive Eddie Mannix (Academy Award nominee Bob Hoskins), might hold the key to the truth.
But truth and justice are not so easily found in Hollywood. Simo pursues dangerous and elusive leads in both high and low places and, in trying to turn up the heat, risks getting burned. The detective also uncovers unexpected connections to his own life as the case turns more personal and he learns more about Reeves himself. Behind the icon was a complex man who gave his life to Hollywood in more ways than one.
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1. SUPERMAN M E (Conducted By Peter Vronsky)
2. THE GREAT PRETENDER (Performed by The Platters)
3. ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET (performed by Frankie Laine)
4. FLYING HOME (Performed by Lionel Hampton)
5. BO DIDDLEY (Performed by Bo Diddley)
6. IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE (Performed by Conway Twitty)
7. EL CUMBANCHERO(Performed by The Arturo O'Farrill Orchestra)
8. THEME FOR ERNIE (Performed by John Coltrane)
9. THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT (Performed by Little Richard)
10. YOU’RE CRYING (Performed by King Pleasure)
11. ELEPHANT WALK (Performed by The Arturo O'Farrill Orchestra)
12. HE WILL BREAK YOUR HEART (Performed by Jerry Butler)
13. FANNIE MAE (Performed by Buster Brown)
14. AT LAST (Performed by Arturo O'Farrill and the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra)
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Louis Simo - Adrien Brody
George Reeves - Ben Affleck
Toni Mannix - Diane Lane
Edgar Mannix - Bob Hoskins
Leonore Lemmon - Robin Tunney
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