Christopher Reeve filming Superman on M25 near Watford

A trailer for the highly anticipated documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story was unveiled this week ahead of the film’s cinematic release in this country on November 1.

The previously unknown actor rose to global fame as Clark Kent/Superman, starring in four films about the Man of Steel, before a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 left him paralysed from the neck down.

Superman lifting Lex Luthor's car in Superman IV (Image: Watford Observer)

The new film looks at that accident and how Reeve became a leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal chord injuries, as well as being a passionate campaigner for disability rights and care.

A promotional poster for Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Image: Warner Bros)

It features previously unseen intimate home movies and personal archive material, as well as the first extended interviews with Reeve’s three children about their late father who died in 2004.

The giant crane lifting the car into position (Image: Watford Observer)

Reeve’s final portrayal of the superhero was in Superman IV, part of which was shot on the last stretch of the M25 to be opened by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on October 29, 1986.

Another view of the crane with the crew at work on the ground (Image: Watford Observer)

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace proved a flop at the box office. Beset by financial constraints and cutbacks, it was filmed solely in England, with Milton Keynes used as an unlikely double for New Year for some sequences.

Christopher Reeve starred in four Superman films (Image: Warner Bros)

The scene filmed on the M25 near Bricket Wood on October 10, 1986 involved the Man of Steel lifting a car driven by villain Lex Luthor, who was played by another iconic Hollywood star, Gene Hackman.

Christopher Reeve in conversation with Gene Hackman (Image: Watford Observer)

A Watford Observer photographer was present to capture these remarkable images of a film crew and a giant crane descending on what was to soon become one of the busiest stretches of road in the country.

Something has caught the eye of the two movie stars (Image: Watford Observer)

We previously published some of these images in November but we hope you enjoy this opportunity to see them again, or for the first time if you missed them last time around.

Reeve is now wearing Superman's distinctive cape as the car is lifted (Image: Watford Observer)

The filming unsurprisingly attracted plenty of curious onlookers (Image: Watford Observer)

Photographers were able to get onto the carriageway to take their pictures (Image: Watford Observer)