This summer will see a reinvention of Superman in Warner Bros.’ highly-anticipated film Man of Steel, but the last son of Krypton isn’t the only being redone in the film. Producer Deborah Snyder spoke with SFX about the film and how Superman isn’t the only one being brought to the 21st century.
“I think that our Lois is a little feistier and stronger. I think both characters are more realistic to us, to society now. Clark to me was always too good to really relate to. He was a little too much this perfect boy scout, and although Lois was feisty and strong she was still always the one being rescued. Not to say that she doesnt get rescued in our movie, but she rescues him right back, in so many other ways, emotionally. And in our film, in our last setpiece, she has a very strong position. Theres something that she needs to accomplish in this plan in order for it to work. I like seeing that shes a really strong female character, and very proactive.”
Snyder said that while working on previous films 300 and Watchmen, they learned the training process for the actors is very important to their portrayal of the role, and that didn’t change for Man of Steel.
“The training for the role was so much a part of the process of making the film. The guys carried themselves differently as they went through their process of transforming their bodies. It was a really important part of the preparation. You saw Michaels posture change. As we went along in prep he kept becoming more and more Zod-like, and Id say the same thing about Henry too. Its like they would carry themselves differently. It wasnt that they were wearing a padded suit, they actually filled the suit, but it did something to their performance at the same time, and I think helped them get in the head of their character.”
When we saw the first photos of Henry Cavill as Superman, all those months ago, the conversation about the changes to the suit began, and that was something they worked on for a long time.
“It has to read, at first blush, as Superman. We went through so many iterations of the costume and yes, Zack did try very hard to make the underpants on the outside of the costume work there are nods to it, with the belt and with some of the side detail on the costume, and that just felt more appropriate to the movie we were making. The other thing that was important for Zack was that the costume not come out of nowhere. It had to have a reason. We were building a world. We go to Krypton and we see this world, and we see that everything has its place. If theyre in space he wanted it to feel like a space suit, and he wanted it to feel like the underlayer that they would maybe put armour over. Its also a caped society, so when you go to Krypton he wanted to see variations of this costume. And knowing that it was a caped society he wanted that to be evident when we were on Krypton, so when Clark finally finds the costume and puts it on youve established where its come from.”
Hitting 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on June 14, the action adventure stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Russell Crowe, Michael Kelly, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff.
