David Corenswet Says SUPERMAN Is “a Comic Book Up on the Big Screen” and a “Great Way to Start a New Era”
Superman star David Corenswet recently opened up about what sets James Gunn’s film apart from the other comic book films being made. According to the actor, this isn’t your standard “comic book movie.” It is the comic book.
“My impression, which is only my impression, but rather than being a comic book adaptation to film, which has been the renaissance of comic book movies that started with great films like Iron Man and Batman Begins, where it sort of felt like we were bringing these comic characters to the real world, James’s Superman movie is more a comic book up on the big screen.
“I've heard it described that the experience of watching it is sort of like the experience of reading a comic, but obviously in motion on a giant screen, shared with the people around you. I think that should be a new experience for people, and is a great way to start a new era of comic book movies.”
Having seen the film, I 100% agree and that is exactly why I loved the movie! It’s very different from any of the other superhero films being made these days.
Gunn just has this distinct filmmaking style hat embraces weirdness, color, and emotional sincerity without losing the escapist fun of the medium.
Corenswet also spoke about the responsibility of taking on a character with so much legacy attached. Instead of mimicking previous portrayals, he went straight to the source material: All-Star Superman, the modern classic by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely that Gunn reportedly used as a creative north star.
“There’s something cool about, in the same way when you play a great character in theater who’s been played by great actors before you, you don’t really get the chance to go back and see their performances and be inspired by their performances.
“But when you read the play, and you get your inspiration from the same words that they got their inspiration from, there’s a nice little spiritual connection through time there."
He continued:
“For me, it was focusing on drawing inspiration from All-Star Superman, the comic that James sort of pointed us to. And in looking at that – not that all the Supermans before me have read that comic – but I saw some things that I recognized in other actors’ portrayal of the character.
“But in drawing it from the comics rather than from the other performances, I felt confident that it would become my own interpretation, and I would find things that would be overlapping, but ultimately distinct from previous actors.”
Between the reverence for the comics and the promise of a cinematic experience that feels like reading a comic on a massive screen, Superman is something truly new in a genre desperate for reinvention.
Source: GamesRadar+