David Corenswet as Superman was not an idea that just dropped out of thin air. In fact, that idea has been gestating for at least six years. The actor even told Men’s Health writer Evan Romano at the time in 2020 that it was his “pie-in-the-sky” dream to play the ultimate comic book hero.
“I mean, the whole point of ‘pie-in-the-sky’ is that it doesn’t happen too often,” he previously said, adding, “I just always felt like Superman was both under-appreciated and over-simplified, and there was a lot of interesting stuff that could happen with it. But that’s all just in my mind. There’s nothing outside of that, at least that I know of.”
Romano told Corenswet that he could see him playing the role, to which the now-Superman, then-mortal replied, “Great to know… I’ll take that in writing. Maybe we can start a petition.”
The ambition, obviously, was realized — and resulted in a so-far $400+ million box office bonanza, which includes the $125 million opening weekend “Superman” had domestically and another $57.2 million in North America this weekend. Much of the movie’s success has been credited to Corenswet, whom writer/director James Gunn said he stumbled upon when watching the 2022 film “Pearl.”
“I actually was watching this movie, which is great. It’s a great movie… and I saw a character whose name I think is just the Projectionist in the movie, and I’m like, ‘That guy looks like he could possibly be Superman,’” Gunn said on Konbini. “I looked up his name on IMDb and said, ‘Can you bring this guy in?’ And so they brought David in. There were two people I asked to be brought in, maybe more, but one guy I thought was most likely to be Superman.”
But it turns out that other guy, Gunn recalled, “wasn’t very good.” “And then David Corenswet, I watched him, and he was amazing,” Gunn said, adding he was particularly impressed with the actor’s comedic chops. What Gunn might not have been prepared for is Corenswet’s inquisitive nature. In an interview with GQ, Gunn talked about working on set with his Superman.
“Sometimes his questions are great, and I totally see where they make him better, and because they make him better, they make the movie better,” Gunn shared. “But every once in a while, it’s just one question too many, and it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, just, David, stop, stop, for a minute.’ And the beautiful thing about me and David is that he knows that about himself and he knows where my limits are. And when I say, ‘David, shut the fuck up,’ David totally gets it and does not take that personally.”
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