Alexander Joseph Luthor is a supervillain portrayed by American actor Gene Hackman in the Warner Bros. Superman film series produced by Ilya and Alexander Salkind, and is an adaption of the original DC Comics character, Lex Luthor. Luthor's girlfriend, film-original character Eve Teschmacher, was later adapted to comic books and other media.
Development and execution Ilya and Alexander Salkind, along with producing partner Pierre Spengler, purchased the film rights to the Superman property in August 1974. It was agreed that the Salkinds would produce and supervise filming on Superman and Superman II simultaneously, as had been the case with The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers. As casting started to take place, and Alexander Salkind wanted a famous actor in the role of Superman. Dustin Hoffman was once again highly considered though the idea was dropped. Robert Redford was offered the part, but he felt he was too famous and was not right for the role, as did Burt Reynolds. After the success of Rocky, Sylvester Stallone lobbied hard for the role but was ignored. Paul Newman was offered all three roles of Superman, Jor-El and Lex Luthor to his choosing though he did not accept any of them, for a salary of $4 million. Nick Nolte and Rex Harrison would both turn it down. It was decided to focus on casting Jor-El and Lex Luthor and save Superman for later. Hoffman was then offered the role of Luthor, and although he was interested, he turned it down. Marlon Brando would eventually be cast as Jor-El, causing Gene Hackman to be cast as Luthor as he wanted desperately to work with Brando. Impressed by the producers' ability to cast famous actors in respective roles, Warner Bros. decided to distribute the film internationally, rather than simply domestically. The filmmakers made it a priority to shoot all of Brando's and Hackman's footage "because they would be committed to other films immediately." During My Life, Stark Hesseltine told Christopher Reeve that he had been asked to audition for the leading role as Clark Kent/Superman in the big budget film Superman. Lynn Stalmaster, the casting director, put Reeve's picture and résumé on the top of the pile three separate times, only to have the producers throw it out each time. Through Stalmaster's persistent pleading, a meeting between director Richard Donner, producer Ilya Salkind, and Reeve was arranged. The morning after the meeting, Reeve was sent a 300-page script. He was thrilled that the script took the subject matter seriously, and that Richard Donner's motto was verisimilitude. Reeve flew to London for a screen test, and on the way was told that Marlon Brando was going to play Jor-El and Gene Hackman was going to play Lex Luthor. When Hackman was initially cast, he was sporting a full head of hair and mustache unlike the Lex Luthor of the comics. Hackman was however, reluctant to shave his head or his mustache. So director Richard Donner made a deal with Hackman that if he shaved off his mustache, he would shave off his own. Hackman relented and when he returned to the set, Donner had revealed that he was sporting a fake mustache the whole time, which caused Hackman to laugh. Hackman did, however, get to keep his hair. In the film, Hackman's hairstyle was changed in every scene to create the illusion he was wearing wigs. Donner filmed most of Superman II with the expectation he would complete the sequel after the release of Superman. Despite the first film's success, Donner was fired from Superman II. Throughout the filming of Superman and Superman II, Donner had a difficult relationship with executive producers Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind and producer Pierre Spengler. The Salkinds refused Donner's demand that Spengler be fired; instead, the Salkinds replaced Donner as director of Superman II with Richard Lester, who had worked with the Salkinds on The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers and as an uncredited producer on Superman. Following Donner's dismissal, Marlon Brando's scenes were removed from Superman II and much of the film was re-shot under Lester's direction. Meanwhile, Gene Hackman, who had finished the majority of his scenes playing Lex Luthor, left the project following the departure of Richard Donner. After replacement director Richard Lester took over production, a Fake Shemp was used to finish Hackman's remaining scenes. This was accomplished by an uncredited actor standing in for Hackman, though not ever facing the camera, while also impersonating Hackman's voice. Yuzuru Fujimoto dubbed for Gene Hackman in Japanese in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Meanwhile, Sergio Fiorentini dubbed for Hackman in Italian for his role in the Superman franchise.
Portrayal and characteristics Gene Hackman's portrayal is a notable departure from the comic book incarnations. In the films, Luthor is portrayed as Superman's comedic foil, or as comic book critic Peter Sanderson puts it, "a used car salesman wielding nuclear missiles". In most of the films of this franchise, Luthor's main business interest is real estate speculation. In the 2006 film Superman Returns, Lex Luthor is played by Kevin Spacey. Although retaining a humorous streak, Spacey's take on the character is drier and more straightforward than Hackman's, and displays more personal dislike and hatred for Superman. Because of his Oscar-winning performance in director Bryan Singer's film The Usual Suspects (1995), and friendship with the director, Spacey was the only actor considered for Luthor. The writers specifically had Spacey in mind for the part when writing the script. Spacey's Luthor has the same comically exaggerated vanity and pompous arrogance of Hackman's, and the same strong interest in real estate, but Spacey's Luthor is less campy and more serious. Spacey later said that Singer told him to play the character as "darker and more bitter" than Hackman did and not to use Hackman's portrayal as an inspiration.
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