Superman soars back to screens

"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"

For decades, this iconic phrase has been associated with the arrival of the Man of Steel, the first widely celebrated superhero in American comic book history. With his red cape billowing in the wind, the superhero has always been portrayed as indestructible.

However, 87 years after the first Superman tale appeared in Action Comics magazine in 1938, he now returns to the silver screen in a disheveled state: injured and lying in the Arctic snow. The situation worsens when Krypto, Superman's pet Superdog, comes running like a bullet after being whistled for — only to pounce on his bloodied body, seemingly adding to his suffering.

This is the opening scene of Superman, DC Studios' first feature film, which was simultaneously released in Chinese mainland and North America on July 11.

Recently, James Gunn, the film's director and screenwriter, alongside producer Peter Safran, traveled to Beijing to promote the new Hollywood blockbuster, sharing behind-the-scenes stories with Chinese fans and media outlets.

Interestingly, the new Superman film has a notable connection to China, as Gunn revealed during the movie's Beijing premiere. "Superman is a movie for everybody across the world, and it's especially for the people of China," he says.

Calling China one of the most important influences on his filmmaking, Gunn credited the country as the place where he discovered how — and why — he wanted to make movies. The 58-year-old director cites some Chinese films and filmmakers as formative inspirations, including Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle, Johnnie To's The Heroic Trio, and classics starring action giant Jet Li or directed by Hong Kong art house auteur Wong Kar-wai.

Well known to Chinese audiences for his work on the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, the director reveals that his inspiration for writing Superman stemmed from a deep childhood connection to the comic book version of the character — one he says he loved even more than the versions seen in most films or television shows.

"I started with the question: What if Superman were real? What would his relationship with Lois Lane be like? What would his flaws be? Where would he be a little too cocky? A little too proud? A little too stubborn to get his way?" Gunn recalls.

In the new film, American actor David Corenswet stars as the titular hero with Rachel Brosnahan playing Lois Lane, Superman's love interest. The story explores Superman's struggle to reconcile his alien origins as Kal-El of Krypton with his human identity as Clark Kent, the mild-mannered journalist at the Daily Planet. As he remains committed to using his powers for the good of humanity, he finds himself facing a new threat: tech billionaire Lex Luthor, who hatches a plot to turn public opinion against him.

One of the key steps in preparing for the film was to cast the right actor to play Superman. Gunn reveals that he first saw Corenswet in the 2022 American period horror film Pearl, leaving him with an impression that Corenswet should audition for the role.

In the first round of auditions, around 30 actors and 30 actresses were considered for the lead roles of Superman and Lane. From that pool, the director selected three pairings to undergo screen tests, mixing and matching the finalists to gauge which combination sparked the most compelling on-screen chemistry.

"David and Rachel — at the end of the day, I liked them the best. But more than that, their chemistry was magnetic. They had very different dynamics: David is a little looser, kind of chaotic, while Rachel is very controlled. Together, that contrast made their personalities spark on film," shares Gunn.

However, another big "star" who almost steals the spotlight from the flying alien superhero is his super-powered, red-cape-wearing pet, Krypto. The dog, brought to life through computer-generated imagery, is modeled on a 3D scan of the director's real-life pet, Ozu — named in tribute to the late Japanese film master Yasujiro Ozu.

Gunn adopted Ozu when the dog was just eight months old, choosing the scrawny, skittish puppy from among some 60 rescue dogs confined to a single backyard. The pup's visible fear, he says, was what drew him in — a timidity that quickly vanished once Ozu settled in and seemed to take command of the household.

"He influences my life by destroying all my things. I adopted this terrible dog, and he came in and chewed up all my stuff, and he wouldn't let me pet him. He was just casually being terrible: casually going outside, getting mud all over himself and doing all the bad things dogs shouldn't do," says Gunn, with a big smile.

"I thought, I'm glad he doesn't have superpowers. And that's when I put him in the movie. I just started writing the movie at that point. That was really the beginning — it was all spurred on by Ozu, who is my dog. He doesn't know it, but he's everywhere," he adds.

Asked about Superman's cultural legacy, Safran — who serves as co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Gunn — describes the iconic hero as "the origin of all superhero stories", adding that the new film marks a breakthrough by presenting Superman as a "fully fleshed-out character" and bringing new emotional depth to the role.

Reflecting on his long-standing collaboration with Gunn since 1998, Safran says making a Superman film felt like a dream come true, the one he had envisioned for years.

"When people talk about superhero fatigue, I always say that it's mediocre movie fatigue. People just want better movies in every genre. I think superhero movies maybe got a little bit lazy and relied on visual spectacle rather than real human stories with genuine emotion and empathy," shares Safran.

"So, I think this generation is as excited as every prior generation about great superhero movies. And when you make one, like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the audience is really excited about it. I really believe that Superman can be part of that, and part of rebuilding the relationship between DC and that new generation, that new audience," he says.