Superman has been a fan-favorite comic book character since time immemorial. The Kryptonian superhero has been played by many actors on the screen, some of which are more beloved than others. Late actor Christopher Reeve’s portrayal of Clark Kent in Superman (1978) and its subsequent sequels will always be near and dear to the fans of the character.
However, not everyone seems to have been a fan of Christopher Reeve back in the day, and this includes his co-star, Jack O’Halloran. A decade after Christopher Reeve’s death, Jack O’Halloran had some pretty interesting things to say about his late co-star. He even hinted that Christopher Reeve had a bit of cockiness in him. In fact, things got so heated on the set of one of the sequels that Jack O’Halloran almost got into a physical confrontation with the lead actor.
Christopher Reeve and Jack O’Halloran Didn’t Get Along
Jack O’Halloran played the villain, Non, in the first two Superman films. While he and Christopher Reeve were obviously against each other in the fictional world, you might think that they would get along in real life. That was certainly not the case. In a 2014 interview with TMZ, O’Halloran talked about how he did not get along with Reeve and called him a bit arrogant.
“Christopher was a young young-minded guy. It [Superman] was the first thing he ever did of any consequence. He believed his own publicity a little bit too much. He was like a child. He was like a little kid. He wanted to be Superman and Clark Kent all the time. You know when he became a nice person is when he got hurt. When he got hurt he became a really different person altogether. He became a lot humbler and he cared about people a lot more, you know? Prior to that he wouldn’t show up for certain things with kids and stuff. He was a bit of an as*.”
On the set of Superman II, O’Halloran just couldn’t take it anymore and things ended up escalating. In the heat of the moment, the March or Die actor almost hit Reeve before director Richard Donner intervened asking him not to hit the lead actor in the face.
Jack O’Halloran Talks about the Fight with Christopher Reeve
In an interview with Boxing News 24/7, O’Halloran was asked about the “famous story” of him “beating up Christopher Reeve on set.” He started off by stating that while the story was blown out of proportion, it is true. He stated that since Reeve was so young, he talked a lot which did not sit right with O’Halloran.
When one of O’Halloran’s friends told him that Reeve was talking smack about his father, the former just had to confront the latter.
“Anyway, a good friend of mine called me asking me how well I knew this Reeve guy, that he was talking about me and my father. The next day, I grabbed Christopher on set and took him into a room and asked him all about it. We worked it out and I thought that was the end of it. But we came out of the room, to where there were a lot of people around, and he turned into Superman! He started yelling saying I couldn’t talk to him like that.”
O’Halloran continued that he then “threw him against a wall” and just as he was about to “smack” Reeve, Donner jumped in to break the fight. After Donner’s intervention, O’Halloran told Reeve just how lucky he was.
Despite their on-set brawl, O’Halloran stated that while Reeve had a bit of an ego, he played the character of the Kryptonian to perfection and that “there will never be a greater Superman.”
You can stream Superman on Max.
Source: TMZ
