Will Reeve was only two years old when his father, actor and activist Christopher, suffered a near-fatal horseback-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. But even all these years later, Will still has a vivid image of a perfect day with his father beforehis injury. Every morning, he would knock on the wall that he shared with his parents' bedroom. One of his parents would grab him and bring him into their bed, and they would read the newspaper together. "And then we would go do some activity, whether it was going on the sailboat or driving around town in the car or even going to watch him ride," Will recalls. "I have made it a point in my life, since then and up until present day, to think of him in his totality, even the parts of his life that I wasn't alive for." More from Variety How 'Superman' Inspired a Movie-Review War: When Is It Fair to Say That Too Much Fun Is No Fun at All? Will Reeve on His 'Superman' Cameo, Honoring His Late Dad Christopher and Why the Family Embraces Every New Man of Steel: 'We're Rooting for Everybody to Succeed' James Gunn's 'Superman' Debuts First Poster That Nods to Christopher Reeve's Man of Steel Like the rest of the world, Will was given a new window into hisfamily's life in "Super/Man,"Words + Pictures' intimate documentary that explores Christopher's legacy as the Man of Steel in the 1978 blockbuster "Superman" and a pioneering activist for spinal cord injury research. Over the years, Will and his half-siblings, writer-producer Matthew and lawyer Alexandra, turned down multiple offers to participate in a documentary about their father, who died of heart failure in 2004. But a few years ago, archivist Daniel Kilroy approached Matthew, asking if he had access to any home videos or documents. As fate would have it, the Reeve siblings had just boxed up an old family home. They were later introduced to directors Peter Ettedgui and Ian Bonhôte, who had previously rendered cinematic yet sensitive portraits of Alexander McQueen and the Paralympics. "We were at a place in our lives where we were ready to be vulnerable and share everything that we felt was necessary to share, to paint a full picture of our father's life," Will says. The siblings weren't interested in a hagiographic, "greatest-hits retelling," but didn't want to influence the creative direction of the doc. "We had said from the beginning: 'Go make the film that you think should be made. We will not put our thumb on the scale, because our father would not have abided by that. He believed in artistic independence and freedom.'" Sitting together in a Manhattan screening room almost exactly two years ago, the Reeve siblings realized they were right to entrust Ettedgui and Bonhôte, who they agreed had "captured the man in full" as well as the inherent joy in their lives — even in the darkest of times. "They found a way into my father's humanity that sings and stays with people who watch this film, and whoever sees it can take what they need from the film and apply it to their own life," Will says. The siblings were similarly moved by how the directors captured Christopher's relationship with his wife, Dana, who was the glue that held the family together: "My parents went through the most difficult of times together and never broke. They always believed in each other, and they believed in the family unit that the two of them had formed." The elder Reeve was always a firm believer in playing the hand he was dealt. Playing Superman was both a blessing and a curse; the role catapulted the Juilliard-educated actor to global superstardom in his mid-20s, but being typecast as the character later stymied his ability to pursue other roles. Following his accident, he understood that he could use his platform to completely reshape the way the public thought about disability. "My dad never set out to be a hero, nor did he necessarily think of himself in such lofty terms, but everything he did in his life was heroic. To hear him say it, a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. That is the defining element of my father's life," Will explains. "I think being Superman gave him the profile that he was then able to leverage into real and lasting change for spinal cord injury and general disability awareness, and funding for research and quality-of-life care — everything that the Reeve Foundation is still at the forefront of to this very day." The unbreakable bond between the Reeve siblings has also been forged in tragedy. Just 16 months after her husband's death, Dana, a non-smoker, died of lung cancer, leaving her 13-year-old son in the care of a loving, neighboring family and her two stepchildren. While Will stresses that he has "never actually literally been alone" in his life, there is still a "missing piece" of himself that he will never be able to get back. "Anyone who's lost someone close to them knows the feeling of being alone, even if you're surrounded by people and the love that they give you. There's something different about losing a parent, let alone two, that makes a person feel lonely and makes them feel lost in a way." As a journalist for ESPN and then ABC News, Will has heard repeatedly that he is the spitting image of his father — he inherited his mega-watt smile, his rich voice, his articulate and affable nature. That close resemblance likely contributed to DC co-head James Gunn's decision to ask Will to cameo in the new "Superman" reboot as a TV news reporter, shortly after Warner Bros. picked up the distribution rights for "Super/Man" last year. Being wholeheartedly embraced by the new "Superman" actors and producers was "incredibly meaningful" to Will, who believes that having to memorize lines is more stressful than having to recite a bunch of talking points on live TV. "I was far more nervous doing this taped cameo, with as many takes as I desired, than I've ever been doing my real job live on air in front of millions of people," he says. He admits he needed a few takes to nail his single line. "On a more serious note, I knew that it would mean a lot to the people who loved my dad as Superman and still think of him as that today. It was a nice homage to my dad and the significance that he has in DC lore." Will has found even more personal ways to honor his father's memory. In February, he debuted an ABC News primetime special, "Finding My Father," in which he revisited the last expedition his dad had filmed before his accident. "Finding the sons of the people who took him around those places and talking with them about what it means to carry on a father's legacy after they've gone, taught me a lot about the universal human experience of grief," he says of the trip that took him from Alaska to Mexico. "We have a lot more in common and want and yearn for the same things, no matter where we're from, or what we've been through, or what experiences we've had in our lives." "I think any child, the more they grow and the more they experience life, inevitably and invariably, they're getting closer to what their parents ultimately were or wanted their children to be," Will adds. "Just celebrating my dad and my family in a more public way than I probably have in the past has brought me closer to him, because I know that I am making decisions to grow as a person personally and professionally in ways that align with the values that my parents instilled in me in the short time we had together." Best of Variety 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in August 2025 Sign up forVariety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us onFacebook,Twitter, andInstagram.
