In Focus interviewer Mike Russell asks, “Is Superman Returns the unofficial Superman III?” And SR screenwriter Michael Dougherty replies, “Okay, uhm, it’s funny…I think Bryan [ Singer] and Dan and I need to sit down and discuss this answer before we talk to too many other reporters. My personal belief — and I know Bryan has been quoted as saying differently — is that this is not Superman III. I don’t feel like it’s appropriate to discount Superman III and IV, because a lot of people put a lot of hard work into them, and even if you don’t like them or don’t think they’re up to a certain quality, they’re still Superman movies.” And then SR screenwriter Dan Harris says, “It√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢s complicated. If this is a sequel to I and II, then everything in I and II happened. But if we√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢re picking and choosing what we want — which is what I think is what happened, using our memories of Superman: The Movie to build our back story √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Ǩ¬ù then I can guarantee that it’s not the specifics, but the broad strokes of those movies that are part of the Superman we√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢re making.” — from Russell’s In Focus interview with the screenwriters (June ’06 issue).