Pictured: Henry Cavill (Superman), Amy Adams, (Lois Lane)
Total Film recently took the time to sit down with the cast of Man of Steel for an interview about what fans can expect to see from the upcoming film. The full text of the interview hasn’t been published online yet, but a few snippets of the article have made their way around the internet about a diverse set of topics.
Henry Cavill, who will play Clark Kent/Superman, said that since he lived in a boarding school growing up, he didn’t ever have access to a nearby comic book store.
“But as soon as I was cast in the movie, that’s when I got my full, real introduction to Superman. I managed to piece together this character, maintaining that baseline and having all differences and nuances that our script adds. This is our own thing, standalone. It’s about Superman, but we’re not copying from any one comic book in particular. And that’s a good thing, because its an origin-story.”
It certainly sounds like he’s done his homework on the character. Cavill’s actually mentioned having read Superman: Red Son in the past, and I’m sure he’s also read other classics for the character like All-Star Superman, and Superman: Birthright.
Michael Shannon, who will play the film’s antagonist, General Zod, said that he actually didn’t look to the past for inspiration for the character.
“I think the way Terrence Stamp approached it – and this isn’t any kind if criticism of his performance – there was something kind of detached about it. Pure hatred, rage, whatever… I think this [characterization] is more ambiguous.”
So ambiguous in fact, that Shannon doesn’t even consider this version of Zod to be a true villain.
“He’s not a villain any more than any other General fighting to protect his people. He doesn’t like to just hurt people and steal diamonds; he’s focused on being successful at his job.”
Michael Shannon as General Zod
Zack Snyder, the director of the film, offered some insight on what will distinguish this film from some of the other films. He says that Cavill’s take is much more “down-to-earth” version of the character and that he doesn’t think that he’ll be holding up continents. One interesting thing that Snyder is quoted as saying is that:
“Superman has been broken for a little while.”
Considering the fact that sentence is placed right after the reference to Superman Returns, I’m choosing to believe that Snyder was referring to the cinematic versions of the character. Hardcore comic book fans weren’t pleased with Returns. Heck, not even Kevin Smith liked it. In fact, I only know of two people who did enjoy the film. One of them is myself, the other is Quentin Tarantino. It really seems that until Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer got together, nobody in Hollywood outside of Richard Donner knew how to make a Superman movie.
Goyer also weighed in on the film as well, and how Superman’s vulnerability
“[Superman is] a man, but he’s a Man of Steel … It’s very much the theme of the movie, so it’s embedded in the title, which we settled on at the very beginning. He’s human but he’s not human.”
Now that I can agree with. Too many people just can’t see that Superman is only invulnerable physically, and that emotionally, he’s as human as the rest of us. I’m glad that they’ll be addressing that.
Everything I read about this movie just keeps getting me more and more excited for June.
What are some of your thoughts on the excerpts from this interview? Why don’t you just tell us what you think in the comments below?
Source: Screen Rant
