Exit Henry Cavill, make way for David Corenswet. The American actor is the new interpreter of Superman, and we discover him in a first trailer full of hope and optimism for James Gunn’s film.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, he’s the new Superman! Still dressed in blue and red, he is preparing to take off again in cinemas, but the first trailer for James Gunn’s film begins with a landing. Or rather a sudden fall in the snow. That of the native of Krypton, his face bleeding, while his wheezing punctuates the few images which are then shown to us.
According to James Gunn, it should be seen as a metaphor for America today. But there is perhaps more behind it, because this crash and the state of health of the superhero can also symbolize the situation in which DC currently finds itself, forced to reboot its cinematographic universe after a series of failures and bad choice. Under the leadership of the director of Guardians of the Galaxy, architect of this new version with producer Peter Safran, and who will himself be responsible for bringing back Superman “at home”as the Man of Steel asks his dog Krypto.
What follows are images mostly devoid of dialogue, where hope for a better tomorrow shines through. Despite the presence of Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) or this image showing a contested Superman, as the one played by Henry Cavill may have been at the time of his confrontation with Batman, the trailer highlights the optimism that makes birth his presence among the population of Metropolis, his gaze turned towards the sky, or his love story with Lois Lane.
Respectively played by Amy Adams and Henry Cavill in the previous version of the DC Universe, Lois Lane and Clark Kent here have the features of Rachel Brosnahan (The Fabulous Mrs. Maisel) and David Corenswet (Twisters). Although we will have to wait a little before judging their chemistry, the actor already appears dashing in the iconic Superman costume, while James Gunn’s main reference seems to be the 1978 film, with Christopher Reeve, of which we hear a re-orchestrated and arranged version of the famous musical theme.
Also showing the hero’s future allies, from Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) to Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) via Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), this promising first trailer ends with this image of the hero taking off which supports this optimism at work. And suggests that James Gunn intends to bring Superman and DC back to the top on July 9.
“A Superman who remains true to his origins as the ultimate good guy”
The director and producer also pulled out all the stops this Monday, December 16, by inviting some of the press to Los Angeles, to discover the trailer and clearly display his ambitions alongside his three main actors. . And answer a few questions.
AlloCiné: As is often the case with you, and the trailer shows it well, the story and the characters come to the fore. How did you craft this story that honors the legacy of Superman and his world, while ensuring that it is accessible and attractive to the generation who will discover this universe for the first time?
James Gunn : I didn’t set out to write a Superman film thinking that I wanted to pay homage to this or that thing and remain open at the same time. Above all, I was looking to write a story that stimulates me, moves me and seems authentic to me. That’s how it all started, but then it took me a while to get to what is the starting point of the film, and part of that time is what you see in the trailer.
But I knew I wanted a Superman who stayed true to his origins as the ultimate good guy. So I made a film about kindness, about goodness. That’s what I told the cast during our dinner the day before we started filming, that the world doesn’t seem to have a lot of good things and our movie had to be one of them. And for it to be real, we had to be good to each other, to the technical team, and to be authentic. This film, for me, is about that more than anything else.
The image of Krypto who comes to Superman’s aid refers to these testimonies of people who said they were saved by their pets. Can you tell us about the relationship between Superman and Krypto in this film and your choice to start the trailer with our hero in his most vulnerable position?
James Gunn : From the start, we show a side of Superman that’s a little different from what we’re used to seeing in the cinema. Because this film is less about superpowers and more about a human being: who he is as a person who struggles in his everyday life. So I thought that would be a good starting point for the trailer, but his relationship with Krypto is complicated because he’s far from the top dog he appears to be here (laughs)
There’s a lot more to Krypto than meets the eye in this trailer. But I also thought it was a way of showing that we were going to embrace the whole Superman mythology, where too many superhero films have put one character – whether it’s Batman or Superman – without taking the rest. But he lives in a world of superheroes, an alternative universe to ours, where they exist, even if he remains down-to-earth overall in many ways.
There are a lot of humans, real people who have lives. But Superman exists in this world, and he has friends who are also superheroes. A dog that flies. A giant fortress that rises from the ground. He fights giant monsters. There are a lot of things we love about the comic books that relate to the Superman mythology but haven’t gotten to see in many adaptations, let alone realistically. But I hope that’s what we managed to do.
What were James’ references for you to become Superman, David?
David Corenswet : I read the comic book “All Star Superman”especially for Clark Kent, because playing this side of the character comes with a lot of interesting challenges. But it was nice to be able to have a silent version. I hadn’t read that many comic books, so I had no idea about these different versions of Clark. I knew the ones that had appeared in the films and series, so I was able to create my own. I was also loosely inspired by my brother-in-law, who is 6 feet tall and 250 pounds, has a deeper voice, and is always in the passage even though he tries not to be. (laughs). Like Clark then.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Can you tell us about the musical theme that we hear here?
James Gunn : I knew from the start what I wanted to do with music. I thought about it a lot, wondering if we were going to do something different or use the John Williams theme. The soundtrack to the 1978 Superman is one of my favorites. When I was little, what I loved most about this film was its music. That’s really what I got out of it, more than anything else. But since I knew we were going to do something that was as much about the past as it was about the future, we had to find a balance.
John Murphy is a composer I love working with, and he started working on the music before the script was even finished. He was actually one of the first people I gave it to, along with Peter Safran and a few others, so he could start writing the music. I told him I wanted to use a version of the John Williams theme, but mostly want it to be our own version. And that’s the one you heard.
What is surprising is that this version gave rise to other titles, some of which recall the John Williams theme, while others are pure John Murphy, which delves into what had been done , emerges from it and uses it magnificently throughout the film. He worked for almost two years on the development of this score. As many people know, I’m the one who writes the basic elements of the score beforehand, so we can play it every morning on set, and that’s what we did again here. But, as with the rest of the film, the challenge was finding the balance between tradition and modernity.
The cover of the theme is reminiscent of that of the American anthem by Jimi Hendrix [au Festival de Woodstock en 1969]and refers to what Superman represents to the American people. How did you integrate this notion into the film?
James Gunn : This is what the “Take Me Home” from Superman to Krypto represents. When I watched the trailer and the movie, I realized that at the beginning we had a bruised Superman, and I think that’s a metaphor for our country. I believe in the goodness of human beings. I believe that most people in this country, despite their ideological or political beliefs, do their best to get by and try to be good people, despite how it may look from the other side. . And the film is about that.
It talks about the basic goodness of human beings and how it can be perceived as uncool when some of the darkest voices are the loudest. This is what happens when we make people believe that the Internet is the world, when it is not. We are the world. I live in the very rural part of Georgia, and I see the kindness and beauty of people who don’t share the same political beliefs as me on a daily basis. This is what it is about: the film deals with the fundamental monotheism of human beings, throughout the world.
Comments collected by Emmanuel Itier in Los Angeles on December 16, 2024
