The year was 1973, Lee Kramer was the co-owner of a shoe business with his older brother in London when he ran into Olivia Newton-John in France. They would begin to date and within the year Kramer would become her manager and move in with her.
Kramer was a fan of a Marvel Comic’s character named Silver Surfer and would go to buy the rights to the character in the late 1970’s. “I originally got turned onto the Silver Surfer in the 1960s when the character first appeared, but I wasn’t in any way involved in this business at the time. Once I was in a position to negotiate for the comic’s film rights, I jumped at the chance to get them.” – Lee Kramer However, Silver Surfer’s origin is based around The Fantastic Four, another set of Marvel Comic’s characters… a set of characters Kramer did not own the rights to. I know what you’re thinking though. “Can’t he just go to Stan Lee, the primary creative of Marvel Comics, and get him to come up with a new origin for Silver Surfer?”
He sure can and he sure did.
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, another creative at Marvel Comics, created the graphic novel “The Silver Surfer” in 1978.
The film would go into pre-production. Concept art of Frank Zane, a body builder and 3x Mr. Olympia winner, as Silver Surfer was sent to potential collaborators. Olivia Newton-John was also attached to play Ardina, the female counterpart to the Silver Surfer.
Stan Lee was into the idea of turning the film into a “rock opera”. In 1980, Lee Kramer reached out to Paul McCartney to try and get him to feature in the films soundtrack. McCartney was at least somewhat interested in the project. “Stan Lee and I get along very well, but he’s totally into the idea of doing the Silver Surfer as a rock opera.” – Lee Kramer “[Music] will play a very important part in the film. We’re going to make an epic picture on the scope of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey'” – Lee Kamer
McCartney made sense as an artist to approach about a Marvel collaboration. McCartney was a comic book fan himself, even composing “Magneto and the Titanium Man” while a member of The Wings in 1975. Marvel even nodded back when they introduced Rocket Raccoon in 1976, a character based on The Beatle’s song “Rocky Raccoon” released in 1968.
Unfortunately, Lee Kramer’s Silver Surfer was never made. The films financing fell through and neither a director nor a screenwriter were ever attached. If they want to try again with the same concept though, I wouldn’t be mad.
