Warner Bros. has struggled with its DC Comics characters, especially after failing to compete with Marvel’s MCU. When things didn’t work out with Zack Snyder’s DC Universe, the studio decided to change things up. James Gunn was brought in to lead the way.
Gunn, alongside Peter Safran, chose to scrap the old DC Universe, the DCEU, and build something new. This new direction is called the DCU, and its first big movie will be the Superman film set to release next year. David Corenswet is taking on the role of the iconic hero, but there are still a lot of question marks related to the production.
Still, a recent press event, which took place a few hours after the in-person event in Los Angeles at which the trailer was released, revealed some interesting information. As Screen Brief reports, over 50 journalists from Australia, China, and the Asia Pacific region attended the virtual session over Zoom, and James Gunn answered some interesting questions!
As you can imagine, a whole series of questions was asked and answered during the press event, but one of them caught our attention. Namely, among the information that was revealed is the fact that James Gunn talked to his predecessor, Zack Snyder, about a very interesting detail related to Superman:
You are used to making films about outsiders. However, Clark Kent, Superman is not one of those characters. So why did you choose this film to direct?
I would say that Superman is in a lot of ways, an outsider. I think that he is, you know, an alien from another planet. And I told the story earlier, to all the people here. There was a time when I was developing the Superman costume, with David Corenswet and Juliana, our costume designer.
And it was coming together, but it had the red trunks, it had the whole thing. And we really went back and forth a lot about the red trunks. I even talked to Zack Snyder about it. He said, ‘I tried like a billion versions with the trunks and just never got there.’ And I said, ‘I see how that’s the case.’
I didn’t know about the trunks. I wanted to use the trunks, but I couldn’t, I kept taking them off. And I came in, it’s very colorful, the trunks are on, and I’m like, ‘God, I don’t know. It’s just so colorful. David, how do you feel?’ He’s like, ‘I love it.’ And I’m like, ‘Really, it’s that colorful.’
And David said, ‘I’m an alien from outer space who can fly and lift buildings, and I shoot laser beams out of my eyes that can dissolve things. I want kids to not be afraid of me. So, what am I going to wear?
And I think that was really part of where the costume came from. And I saw the character in a new way. And it also showed me how—David, before we started even shooting, really took everything, every moment, very seriously in all his choices and what he would do. And he wants to not be scary to kids. And I thought that was a pretty cool thing that really, I’ve kept in mind for the character ever since that moment.
Source: Screen Brief
If you remember, the design of Superman’s costume was a hot topic at one point, and James Gunn now revealed some intriguing details related to how the final design was made and chosen.
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