SupermanisJames Gunn’s first feature to set the newDC Universe in motion, but it’s a story with a hefty history throughout the decades. So, how then does the DC Studios co-CEO and writer-director bring audiences a fresh look at a timeless tale?
Of course, it all starts with a script, andisolating that entry point that hasn’t been fully exploredyet. But you can’t bring a vision to screen without the perfect cast, especially when Gunn’sSupermanzeroes in on its two leads, and the genesis of Superman and Lois Lane’s relationship, played expertly byDavid CorenswetandRachel Brosnahan. Between the Man of Steel and a reporter with nerves of steel, according to the duo, things heat up quickly.
During their conversation with Collider’sPerri Nemiroff, Corenswet and Brosnahan discuss why their on-screen chemistry simmers. “These are two people who have met their match,” Brosnahan points out, acknowledging that what started as purely physical becomes a clashing of the minds as Clark Kent from Smallville, Kansas, facesnew, hard truths as Superman. Corenswet also discusses the connection he shares with the OG Hollywood Kryptonian,Christopher Reeve, and Brosnahan reveals the Lois Lane backstory details she worked on with Gunn.
David Corenswet Pinpoints How Juilliard May Have Prepared Him and Christopher Reeve for ‘Superman’
“I feel like I’m about to die. What does this have to do with acting?”
PERRI NEMIROFF: David, I’m a big old nerd for acting training and techniques, and I love the fact that both you and Christopher Reeve studied at Juilliard.
RACHEL BROSNAHAN: Yes, there it is. We’re taking shots every time somebody mentions Juilliard or Star Wars.
What do you think it is about that style of training that tees actors up so especially well to crush it as Superman?
DAVID CORENSWET: I was astonished. I did not expect it at the screen test to feel, multiple times, thatmy training at Juilliard had perfectly prepared me for the screen test specifically, and then the role in general. I think there’s a lot at acting school that’s really cool and fun, but you sort of think once you’re out in the world, you’re not going to use a lot. It’s sort of like high school trigonometry. You’re like, “Am I really going to use this?” But then… When do you use trigonometry in real life? I don’t know. You do! I can’t think of it off the top of my head, but pay attention in school, kids. Love trigonometry.
Anyway, sorry. First of all, the screen test for Superman was this sort of old-fashioned screen test where we actually did the scene and shot the scene as though it were a scene, whereas most screen tests are more like auditions where there’s one camera and you do it once or twice, maybe get a note, and it all feels over too quick and much more like an audition. James [Gunn] immediately made working on the screen test scene feel like we were going to work, not like we were auditioning. The work felt much more like rehearsing a play than it did like shooting a movie. So, I immediately thought, “Well,that’s what I trained for, rehearsing a play.” I did a lot of that in school.
Then, when we got up on wires for the stunt evaluation, it’s something I had never done before, but the challenge there was all about having isometric control over your body and your limbs, while keeping a relaxed and hopefully somewhat charming facial expression, although not always. It’s sometimes not necessary, or counterproductive. So, again, I thought back to Moni Yakim’s movement classes at Juilliard, where you’d be lying on the floor and he would say, “And the right legupand down and up and down!”
BROSNAHAN: Juilliard, ladies and gentlemen.
CORENSWET: And for an hour and a half, you’re going, “I feel like I’m about to die. What does this have to do with acting?” Of course, it has everything to do with acting, but that was so directly translatable. I did think, “Did Christopher Reeve think back to training with Moni?” Which he did train with Moni at school. I was amazed at how directly translatable it all felt. So, thanks, Juilliard.
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Rachel Brosnahan Shares Lois Lane’s “Punk Rock” Backstory
“There are a couple of different versions of Lois’s backstory that James and I talked about and explored.”
Rachel, I want to ask you a backstory question because there’s a part in the press notes when James mentions Lois has a much more tumultuous past than Superman. Can you tell us a little bit about some backstory you came up with off-screen that we can feel informing your performance, and perhaps speaking to why she doesn’t believe in goodness the same way that he does?
BROSNAHAN: There are a couple of different versions of Lois’s backstory that James and I talked about and explored, some things that I added for color. But James likes the version whereher father is a military general, and that she was raised in an environment that taught her to work hard and to rise to the occasion, but also to be skeptical, to question everything, and that perhaps she hadn’t necessarily been modeled with the same kind of family structure as Clark grew up with, with Ma and Pa Kent. And some other stuff along the way.
CORENSWET: That you don’t get to know about!
BROSNAHAN: That we get to hold onto! But Lois talks a little bit about being punk rock for a period of her life, and I tend to find that people who end up having a punk rock phase arrive there with purpose, speaking as somebody who had a little bit of one myself. [Laughs] I appreciated that James, even though the moments don’t necessarily take up that much real estate, thatbackstories are the important part of how we arrived here, and especially a part of her arc in the film. We understand her skepticism. We understand her priding herself on being 10 steps ahead of everyone else. It makes her good at her job. But I also think a part of her just doesn’t believe this part of Superman thatactuallysees the goodness in people first. It’s really not until she gets to see him at home briefly that I think she has that realization, which is a really crucial moment for her as a character.
‘Superman’ Star, 34, on Her Iconic Comic Book Character’s Future in the DCU
“I’d be so lucky.”
What Makes Superman and Lois Lane’s Chemistry Simmer on Screen?
“These are two people who have met their match.”
Another crucial moment that happens earlier in the movie that I absolutely love is that first really meaty conversation the two of you have, that really lengthy, dialogue-driven scene.
CORENSWET: Yes. It goes on and on and on.
It’s something else. I especially appreciate seeing two characters have a conversation on the big screen in this type of film where they have fundamentally different opinions about how to tackle something, and it’s not something that ruins their relationship. Can you tell me something about the two of them that allows that kind of conversation to build them up and not tear them apart?
BROSNAHAN: They’re both really passionate characters, and they will die on the hills they’re going to die on. They’re like a magnet. I think they are stronger together. They kind of need each other to bring out each other’s humanity, and they’re hot for each other! I think it keeps things exciting.These are two people who have met their matchin each other in a way that they don’t experience very often in their lives.
CORENSWET: It was a big risk for James to write such a long scene, which is essentially an argument, because I think argument scenes…
BROSNAHAN: Passionate conversation.
CORENSWET: They run the risk of having two characters explaining their opinions to each other, arguing their opinions. What was great about the writing of the scene, which made it really fun to play, and a great first scene to shoot between the two of us, was that not only dowe have different opinions, or we’re on different sides of the argument, but our perspectives on the argument are directly linked to how we argue. So it wasn’t just, “We have different opinions,” it’s, “We have different styles of having this argument, and we have different expectations of the other character in their responses.” So, that creates layers. And then, of course, under all of those layers is the fact that at least one of us just wanted to sleep with the other one.
BROSNAHAN: I think we both started there. [Laughs]
CORENSWET: Good! That’s what I thought. But then obviously…
