SUPERMAN RETURNS - ROUTH LAUGHS OFF SUPERMAN CURSE

SUPERMAN RETURNS newcomer BRANDON ROUTH has laughed off suggestions he is destined for personal tragedy, because a "curse" has befallen the stars of previous movies based on the superhero. Routh was plucked from obscurity to play the Man Of Steel and he is unfazed by the supposed jinx which devastated the lives of CHRISTOPHER REEVE, GEORGE REEVES and KIRK ALYN. He says, "Curse? What curse? I don't live my life in fear and I'm not scared." Theorists have drawn up evidence of a Superman curse after the riding accident which paralysed late big screen Superman Reeve. And previous TV Men Of Steel Reeves and Alyn lived forever in the shadow of their TV careers as Superman, unable to find work and driven to early graves by drink.