What many of you may not know is that infamous Beatles star, Paul McCartney, was at one point approached to score a ‘Silver Surfer‘ film in the 80s that never came together. Would this Beatle turned knight have even considered such a soundtrack?
Well, another fun fact about this member of the fab four (who in a ‘Fantastic Four’ movie would probably have played Johnny Storm as his nickname was ‘the cute one’) is that he is a huge comic book fan! Not only DC (as his piano in ‘Help!’ was draped in Superman comics) but he released a solo song in 1975 entitled “Magneto & Titanium Man” which also referenced Crimson Dynamo in its lyrics.
This recent news gives us more details about the film that was pitched in 1980 which many of us first found out about last year when author Sean Howe revealed some of the concept art in his book, “Marvel Comics: The Untold Story”. The movie had been pitched by Lee Kramer (‘Xanadu’,’The Man Who Saw Tomorrow’) who was the person that had initially reached out to Sir Paul McCartney about scoring it. The concept art gives an extremely 80s feel and the plot is clearly capitalizing on what was popular at the time. Kramer’s pitch for the film was that it would be:
“… an epic picture on the scope of 2001: A Space Odyssey with the kind of soundtrack that that film had, only using contemporary rock and roll. It’s even conceivable that the Surfer might have a chant or a fanfare made up of one thousand electric guitar[s]. Doing the Silver Surfer has always been a dream of mine, and now it’s going to be realized.”
I’m sure in retrospect it’s fortunate this his dream never was realized.
Casting wise, Howe had already planned to include his girlfriend, Olivia Newton-John (‘Grease’,’Xanadu’), who would have played the Surfer’s girlfriend in the film. Though it wasn’t specific if she would play his long lost love Shalla-Bal or one of the later women he was interested in when he was fighting the Elders (such as Mantis).
Clearly McCartney was interested in the idea if his managing director’s response is anything to go by:
While it never happened, one can only imagine what horrid 80s special effects we would all fondly rmember as the classic version of a character that we will most likely soon once again on the big screen.
So folks what do you think? Would this have been a work of art or one of the most cringe worthy pre-current Marvel movies ever made? Would you fondly be remember McCartney’s score to the film? Share your thoughts below true believers!
Source: Comic Book Movie
