Playing Clark Kent, aka Superman, may seem like one of Hollywood’s most coveted franchise roles, but David Corenswet reveals that he had reservations before taking on the iconic part.
“A role like Superman seems like something that everybody would want, and that’s not true. There are some people who wouldn’t want that role and who would, if given the opportunity, say no. I am obviously not one of those people. But I certainly tried to think of reasons not to,” Corenswet reveals in a new GQ Hype cover story. “Ultimately, what I landed on for myself was, if this is the only role I get to play for the rest of my life, and that means whether I get to play it once or get to play it 10 times, would I still say yes? And the answer was yes.”
The interview dropped today, just ahead of the July 11 global launch of the new Superman movie from Warner Bros. Pictures and DC, and features interviews with Corenswet, co-stars Nicholas Hoult and Rachel Brosnahan and filmmaker James Gunn. Much has been made in recent days of how Gunn settled on Corenswet as his leading man over Hoult and how Superman reflects an immigrant experience), and the new piece features more from Gunn about why Corenswet was the guy for him.
“I couldn’t go for someone that didn’t work,” Gunn told GQ, adding that Corenswet just so happened to be a theater kid who’s athletic, something he found “even weirder.” “I couldn’t go for someone that had the look, but didn’t have the chops. I couldn’t go for someone that had the chops but didn’t have the look. I couldn’t go for someone that had the looks and the chops, but couldn’t do the comedic parts, or couldn’t do the more vulnerable aspects.”
Added Hoult: “He’s got this Old Hollywood persona which makes him feel even more relevant and timely to this version of Superman and Clark. It’s his charisma, his idiosyncrasies. He is what he idolizes, that silver screen era of acting and musicals.”
Brosnahan, who plays Lois Lane, said she was in “awe” of Corenswet throughout the process of filming. “He’s been ready for it and I don’t know where that comes from. He takes the responsibility seriously, and I know how important it was to him to do everything he could to rise to the challenge. And if he ever felt the pressure, it never showed.”
As for what fans may find when Superman flies into theaters this weekend, Corenswet said that the team aimed at delivering the “truest and therefore most interesting” shades about Superman, “the things that set him apart from other heroes.”
Said Corenswet: “The fact that he is essentially free from angst and turmoil internally. He’s a good guy who had a great upbringing, loving parents, has wonderful relationships with his friends, and a romantic relationship and loves what he does. He doesn’t have the Batman thing of having lost his parents early and doesn’t feel the burden of this terrible city that he has to come and save. Metropolis is a wonderful, cosmopolitan almost utopia — it just happens to get invaded by Kaijus and other monsters and whatnot every now and then.”
Corenswet, Brosnahan and Hoult at a Superman screening at London’s Cineworld Leicester Square last week.
(Photo by Ben Montgomery/Getty Images)