On June 19, Superman actors David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan, along with director James Gunn, touched down in Manila as the first stop on their world tour promoting the film’s premiere.
Gunn’s Superman will follow the hero (Corenswet) as he navigates his life as the plucky journalist Clark Kent, his growing relationship with fellow reporter Lois Lane (Brosnahan), and his journey as a superhero trying to protect the city of Metropolis from supervillains like the evil billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).
At a press conference held at the Grand Hyatt Manila on June 20, Corenswet spoke about how his role as Superman required him to undergo a challenging physical transformation. “I started preparing for [Superman] at the gym,” said Corenswet. “When you take on a physical transformation like that, it’s really just you against your own mind… In the words of [the late Superman actor] Christopher Reeves, ‘I’ve been a string bean my whole life, and Superman is not a string bean.’”
Brosnahan also shared how she’d been drawn to the role of Lois Lane because Gunn had promised her a modernized take on the character. “Lois is one of the characters that’s evolved the most in the history of these comics,” said Brosnahan. “The way she looks, the way she talks…in [Gunn’s] version, her relationship with Superman really weighs heavily on her role as a journalist. She’s an everyday superhero just like Superman; she’s not knocked off balance very easily.”
When asked about his vision for the film, Gunn, best known for his work on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, promised a take that would be uniquely different from recent, grittier, and darker versions of the beloved comic book hero. “I’ve always liked the character of Superman, and I started reading the comics when I was around three or four years old. With this movie, I wanted to see the Superman I fell in love with from the comic books.”
“I wanted to create that feeling I had as a kid again, but I also wanted a version of Superman grounded in real stakes,” Gunn added. “I wanted to see real people who have issues and problems in relationships, and who could change themselves.”
Underneath all the dazzling fanfare surrounding the film, the new cinematic iteration of Superman promises to be a movie that brings hope at a time when audiences truly need it. “This is a movie about kindness,” Gunn told Rolling Stone Philippines. “That’s what drew me to Superman in the first place.” Beyond bringing DC into a brighter, more cheerful era of hero movies, Superman introduces a new kind of hero: one who carries the pep, humor, and humanity of his comic book origins into a modern world that could use all three.
