Christopher Reeve got a super body for the role

There was just one thing Richard Donner didn’t like about Christopher Reeve: his size.

The director insisted Superman needed to be very muscular, and the actor weighed only 170 pounds, despite being 6’5”.

However, Reeve won Donner over by promising he would put on as much muscle as possible, and that is exactly what he did.

He said: "Before I went into acting, I was a real jock. I’ve lost 50 pounds. I can put it on.”

The actor had help from bodybuilder-turned-Darth Vader star David Prowse, and by the time the cameras began rolling, he weighed 212 pounds.