Christopher Reeve initially wanted to turn off life support when a riding accident paralyzed him: director

After Christopher Reeve’s life-changing fall from a horse in 1995, the actor underwent risky surgery to save his life.

“It was a tricky question as to whether he would make it through this operation alive,” Peter Ettedgui, co-director of “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” told Fox News Digital.

Ettedgui continued: “For us, that was the foundation of the whole story, because when he finally came to, of course his first thought was just, ‘Please just turn off the life support systems.'”

But thanks to the love of his wife Dana and his children, the support of the mother of his two oldest children, Gae Exton, and his close friend and former roommate Robin Williams, who stopped by to “make him laugh,” he began to have a ” “Purpose” to live.

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“And that was simply the most beautiful story for us. You start at the worst point you can imagine and then you go on this really beautiful journey, I think,” he said.

Ettedgui said that while making the documentary, it was a revelation for the filmmakers to learn “the extent” and “depth” of Reeve’s friendship with Williams.

Reeve and Williams became close friends while living together at Julliard in the 1970s, and their friendship lasted until Reeve’s death in 2004.

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Reeve once told Katie Couric on “Today” that Williams was the “first one to show up down in Virginia when I was really in trouble.”

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He joked that it was a good thing he was strapped into his chair “because I would have fallen over laughing if the comedian had visited.” “It’s funny, in the middle of a tragedy like this, in the middle of recovery, you can still experience real joy, laughter and love, and anyone who says life isn’t worth living is dead wrong.”

Robin Williams was friends from the time they lived together at Julliard until his death in 2004. (Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

According to the Mercury News, Williams continued to visit Reeve and even bought his family a special van to take to the Academy Awards less than a year after the accident.

Williams spoke at his funeral in 2004, calling him his “brother” and a steady source of support for him amid his “chaos.”

Ian Bonhote, co-director of “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeves Story,” said they knew “nothing” about Reeve’s widow, Dana Reeve, before making the documentary “because he was the famous person people knew about.” or you had details about him.” . She was completely unknown because she accomplished so much but didn’t get the same respect… We thought it was really important to push her forward.

Dana and Christopher Reeve married in 1992. She died in 2006, two years after his death in 2004.

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Ettedgui explained that when they started the documentary, they believed it would be about a man who played a superhero on screen but became a “true hero” in real life.

“What we didn’t realize was that there was a very remarkable family behind it,” Ettedgui added. “And at some point we realized that we were going to make a film about the whole family, not just Christopher.”

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Bonhote said they met his children a few times over Zoom, but when they actually met them in person, all three children reminded them of Reeve in a different way.

“What we didn’t realize was that there was a very remarkable family behind it, and at some point we realized that we were going to make a film about the whole family, not just Christopher.”

– Peter Ettedgui, co-director of “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.”

“Superman” star Christopher Reeve, who died in 2004 after being paralyzed in 1995, is the subject of a new documentary. (Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection)

Will Reeve, 32, is an ABC correspondent, Alexandra, 40, is the CEO of a nonprofit and Matthew, 44, is a filmmaker.

““Will is an entertainer,” Bonhote said. “He loves the camera.” He loves the performance. He wasn’t – he says it himself, he never wanted to be an actor, but you know, he’s in front of the camera almost every day of his life as a reporter for Good Morning America. Alexandra is an activist and a leader – she is the managing director of an NGO [non-governmental organization] in Washington. And Matthew is a filmmaker. It’s funny that he almost split into three people.”

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He added: “That’s how we used them so many times in the film. They were the best, you know, they were the best people to convey Chris, the sense of Chris.”

Will Reeve called it a “privilege” to be able to make a film out of her life.

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“Peter and Ian, our directors, have told a very human story in such a big, cinematic way, and it’s a great privilege to have turned your own life, your own family’s story into a film, a documentary and it “Well, it’s a pleasure,” he said in a recent interview with Fox News as he sat with his siblings.

Christopher Reeve with his wife Dana, his son Will and Robin Williams in 2004. (Evan Agostini/Getty Images)

Bonhote said he was also surprised by Reeve’s commitment after his injury.

“He learned everything about spinal cord injuries and taught himself so much about the research available, what could be improved, and actually set out to raise so much money and awareness,” he said.

Bonhote explained that when he and Ettedgui began experimenting with the structure of the film, “we felt like elements had superheroic powers, but in a real setting. And so we kind of came up with the idea of ​​just always using, you know, Superman and in some ways a metaphor for Superman throughout the film through his newfound powers.

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In the documentary, Reeves’ surgeon described having to essentially place the actor’s head back on his body during emergency surgery after his accident.

Bonhote explained that the outcome of the operation – either being able to leave the hospital or dying immediately – made a difference of one millimeter during the operation.

He added: “Even the way they managed to keep him alive was already groundbreaking surgery and groundbreaking medicine.”

In a scene from the film “Superman,” 24-year-old Christopher Reeve plays the comic book hero who repairs a broken railroad track. (Keystone/Getty Images)

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Reeve was an avid rider and competitor and was competing in a jumping competition on the day of his accident.

In addition to riding, Reeve – who was 1.90 meters tall and muscular – also practiced other sports such as sailing, skiing and diving and flew alone across the Atlantic twice as a pilot.

He also often performed his own stunts on set, according to the New York Times.

Immediately after Reeve fell headfirst from a horse at a competition in Virginia in May 1995, Ettedgui said no one knew how serious it was because it wasn’t a big jump.

“And the commentator, we wish – unfortunately there’s no footage of this – but the commentator says, ‘Superman is down,’ like it’s some kind of joke. And then everyone realized what had happened. And then, you know, the story of the rush to get him to the hospital and surgery by plane.”

Ettedgui said they believe the emergency surgery performed on Reeve had never been done before, “and they actually had to rehearse it on a cadaver to really hone in on what they would do in the surgery.”

Matthew Reeve told Fox News that despite everything he’d been through, his father “was still very much himself, the same person. And the intensity, passion and commitment that he brought to both acting and his hobbies he transferred to himself: advocacy, running the foundation and raising funds for research.”

Reeve’s children Matthew, Alexandra and Will were an integral part of the documentary, the directors said. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

Alexandra added: “We are excited to tell this story to a new generation of people. Both people who don’t know him that well or didn’t know him as a hero on the screen, but perhaps didn’t recognize the man behind it and the depth of our story.

Reeve landed Superman, the breakthrough role of his career, in his mid-20s. The Julliard-trained actor also played the superhero in the 1978 film’s sequels: Superman II, Superman III and Superman IV in 1980, 1983 and 1987.

He was also known for 1980’s “Somewhere in Time,” directed the Emmy-nominated “In the Gloaming” for HBO in 1997 after his paralysis, and played Jimmy Stewart in a 1998 “Rear Window” remake. The role earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Ettedgui wants audiences to take in the film, saying it is “multi-layered.”

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“We’re all going to have to deal with loss, illness, maybe disability, you know, we’re all going to lose people that we love,” he said. “And I think this is a story about those things, but about how life never ends and how you can kind of take that in stride.”“